SMART POLICY- Sharjah wants to turn depleted wells into carbon capture facilities: UAE state-owned gas producer Sharjah National Oil Corporation (Snoc) is mulling turning some of its depleted gas reservoirs into carbon capture and storage sites, Masoud Ahmed Al Hamadi, the company’s exploration and production manager, told Dubai-based energy consultancy Gulf Intelligence (GI) in an interview last Wednesday (watch, runtime: 12:55). Snoc has around 50 wells from depleted gas reservoirs that can be utilized to store captured carbon, including Sajaa — the largest of these depleted wells, Al Hamadi told GI.

SOUND SMART- Depleted gas wells can be ideal for carbon capture given their storage capacity: They’re sturdy enough to effectively hold the gas — existing infrastructure, including pipelines to store and transport gas, can be repurposed to store and ship CO2, according to a study (pdf) published by the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute (CCSI).

This isn’t the UAE’s first stint in carbon capture: The first commercial-scale carbon capture and storage plant in the region was established in the UAE in 2016. The plant was developed by Adnoc and currently has the capacity to capture 800k tons of CO2 annually. “The region is well positioned to become a leader, both in the CCS market and the energy transition more broadly,” CCSI global CEO Jarad Daniels said at the inauguration of CCSI’s MENA HQ in Masdar City last month.

But it hasn’t picked up across MENA, and that’s due, in part, to a lack of regulation. But that may be changing: “Europe has started to change the regulations now […] and the Middle East is coming soon, and hopefully the UAE, too,” Al Hamadi said.

Can’t discount the high costs: Substantial investments will be required to push down the cost of carbon capturing and storage projects in the region, he added.