Abu Dhabi National Oil Company has established a new Low Carbon Solutions and International Growth vertical that will focus on renewable energy, clean hydrogen and carbon capture and storage, as well as international expansion in gas, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and chemicals, the group announced on Tuesday.
Musabbeh Al Kaabi has been appointed Executive Director of the new vertical.
Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and ADNOC Managing Director and Group CEO, said: “The Low Carbon Solutions & International Growth vertical will accelerate delivery of our decarbonisation roadmap and advance our Net Zero by 2050 ambition. As the UAE prepares to host COP28 next year, we will continue to focus on practical and positive solutions that drive progress for the climate and the economy.
“With the direction and support of our nation’s wise leadership and the ADNOC Board, ADNOC is embarking on a new and exciting period of accelerated growth, with a determined focus on sustainability that will help future-proof our business for decades to come.”
The announcement comes barely a week after UAE President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan presided over the annual meeting of the ADNOC Board of Directors in his capacity as its Chairman.
During the meeting, the board approved a capital expenditure of Dh550 billion ($150 billion) for 2023-2027, and also directed ADNOC to pursue a Net Zero by 2050 ambition to support the UAE Net Zero by 2050 Strategic Initiative.
The new vertical will play an important role in advancing the company’s ongoing transformation, which has included a focus on the decarbonisation of its operations, energy efficiency and operational excellence, reductions in methane emissions, and the use of renewable and other zero-carbon energy sources, among others.
As part of its commitment to cutting emissions, ADNOC is building on the success of the region’s first commercial-scale carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) facility, to increase its CO2 capture capacity by over 500 per cent, to approximately 5 million tonnes per year by 2030. This will be achieved by capturing additional CO2 from its gas processing plants and other sources of CO2 emissions. Meanwhile, in collaboration with industry partners, academia, and research institutes, ADNOC is exploring opportunities to advance CCUS technology development and deployment, while driving down its costs.
As part of its decarbonisation roadmap, beginning in January 2022, ADNOC was the first hydrocarbon company to source 100 per cent of its grid energy from clean nuclear and solar power.
Al Kaabi is currently CEO of the UAE Investments platform at Mubadala Investment Company PJSC, the Abu Dhabi sovereign investor.
