6 December 2014: An event on ‘Carbon Management in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Countries,’ organized by the Government of Saudi Arabia, considered various carbon management initiatives in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, including carbon sequestration through enhanced oil recovery (EOR), Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) certified projects and the management of gas flares.

Ahmed Al-Eidan, Saudi Aramco, said his organization’s corporate carbon management team focuses on mutually-beneficial technology-driven mitigation efforts and noted that Saudi Arabia is a leader in the Middle East on issues of flare reduction and energy conservation. He outlined the team’s technology roadmap, which focuses on stationary and mobile carbon management, industrial applications, carbon dioxide sequestration in saline aquifers and carbon dioxide use through EOR. Al-Eidan also described the development of enhanced monitoring and surveillance techniques, including the use of seismic and electromagnetic waves to measure, map and monitor changes in carbon dioxide emissions.

Ali Al Anazi, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), outlined the activities of Al-Bayroni, a joint Qatar-Taiwan venture, to gain CDM certification on two sites in east Qatar: an ammonia plant energy optimization project and a project to improve the energy efficiency in a fossil fuel-fired steam boiler system. He informed participants that the operationalization of the two CDM projects, which are now undergoing validation, is equivalent to planting 12 million trees.

Mohammed Almarri, Qatar Fuel Additives Company, drew attention to a Carbon Dioxide Recovery (CDR) plant in Qatar, highlighting work to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in methanol recovery.

Salem Qahtani, Saudi Aramco, spoke on a flare minimization programme, stressing his company’s goal of attaining zero flaring in the near future. He described an in-house flare monitoring system, which aims to mitigate and monitor gas flares across all company sites.

In the discussion, participants considered, inter alia, government interventions promoting carbon management; guidelines for managing flares; the effectiveness of the CDR process; the need to separate issues of biodiversity and those of economic diversification; potential for and challenges of greening the Gulf, including through artificial forests; and the impact of environmental negotiations on carbon capture and storage (CCS) development. [IISD RS ENBOTS Coverage] [IISD RS ENBOTS Video Coverage of Side Event] [IISD RS Coverage of Lima Climate Change Conference] [Saudi Arabia COP 20 Website]