Dubai: The UAE energy company ADNOC has made a 'final investment decision' to develop one of the biggest carbon capture projects in the Middle East and North Africa.
The Habshan Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) project in Abu Dhabi is to have a capacity of 1.5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of carbon dioxide from underground geological formations .
The project will be part of ADNOC’s wider carbon management strategy, which 'aims to create a unique platform that connects all the sources of emissions and sequestration sites' and accelerate delivery of 'ADNOC and the UAE’s decarbonization goals'.
As part of the strategy, the company is implementing several 'technology-driven pilot projects', including carbon di oxide mineralization and full carbon sequestration in saline aquifers.
The project will triple ADNOC’s carbon capture capacity to 2.3 million tons per annum, which is 'equivalent to removing over 500,000 gasoline-powered cars from the road' each year.
The Habshan carbon capture project should provide for enhanced oil recovery of low carbon-intensity barrels as well as the production of low-carbon feedstock such as hydrogen, to help customers decarbonize their operations.
The project - to be built, operated and maintained by ADNOC Gas - will include carbon capture units at the Habshan gas processing plant, pipeline infrastructure, and a network of wells for CO2 injection.
Carbon di oxide will be permanently stored in reservoirs in the sub-surface through the deployment of closed-loop CO2 capture and reinjection technology at the well site. The FID to develop the project 'fully aligns' with ADNOC’s recently announced Net Zero by 2045 goals and is also part of the company’s initial Dh55 billion decarbonization investment in low carbon solutions.
“As ADNOC continues its transformation towards a lower carbon future, it is our intention to make further investments to significantly reduce our emissions, including in carbon capture and storage," said Musabbeh Al Kaabi, ADNOC Executive Director of Low Carbon Solutions and International Growth. "And push the boundaries of innovation and technology with our partners, to build on our world-leading legacy and industry leadership in carbon management."
ADNOC sources all of its grid power from the Emirates Water and Electricity Company’s (EWEC) nuclear and solar resources. This makes it the first major oil and gas company to decarbonize its power at scale. ADNOC is also developing a Dh14 billion project to build a sub-sea transmission network, which upon completion, could reduce ADNOC’s offshore carbon intensity by up to 50 per cent.
