Abu Dhabi: Al Reyadah, a company focused on exploring and developing commercial scale projects for carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) was launched on Saturday as Abu Dhabi takes measures to reduce emissions and support greener forms of energy.
A joint venture between Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and Masdar, Al Reyadah’s facility in Musaffah will capture up to 800,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted from Emirates Steel factory annually to transfer it to oilfields for enhanced oil recovery operation.
The total investment in the project is Dh450 million. The new project consists of three stages mainly in industrial capture of the carbon dioxide from Emirates Steel factory and in the second stage the captured gas is compressed and dehydrated. The final stage involves the transportation of the compressed gas via 42km pipeline for injection into Adnoc onshore oilfields in Rumaitha and Bab for enhanced oil recovery.
Speaking at the inauguration of the facility, the UAE Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazroui said the project will contribute a lot in terms of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
“The initial reaction from the reservoir is positive and we are hoping that we can expand this project. The project will take out in terms of carbon dioxide emissions of around 170,000 cars from the street.”
“It is a huge improvement and supports the initiatives of UAE in reducing emissions and directing our energy sources towards greener forms of energy.”
He further added the project is double positive as it contributes towards removing carbon dioxide and injecting it in oilfields for enhanced output.
“We are proud of this project. There is a huge difference between injecting carbon dioxide to dispose it off and injecting it for enhanced oil recovery mechanism.”
The project is one of only 22 large-scale CCUS ventures, either in operation or under construction worldwide, and the first to capture carbon dioxide from an iron and steel works, Masdar said in a statement.
Bader Al Lamki, executive director of Masdar clean energy said the carbon capture technology is reliable to combat climate change.
“The company has been created to champion this technology with in the UAE and elsewhere. This is a value generating project.”
The new development comes as some of the world’s biggest oil companies, including Saudi Aramco and Royal Dutch Shell, pledged on Friday to invest $1 billion to develop climate-friendly technologies.
The companies pledged to use a large share of the $1 billion for speeding up carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS) in gas-fired power plants and towards reducing leakages of methane, one of the most polluting greenhouse gases, according to Reuters.
