A potential UAE-US cooperation on CCS? State oil giant Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) has signed a strategic collaboration agreement with Occidental Petroleum to explore potential investment opportunities in carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) hubs in the UAE and US, they said in separate statements (here and here) yesterday.

The details: Under the agreement, Adnoc and Occidental will evaluate the development of direct air capture (DAC) facilities in the UAE — including what could be the first megaton DAC project outside of the US — to potentially absorb as much as 1 mn tons of carbon dioxide annually. The two parties will also evaluate the joint development of one or more carbon management hubs in the Gulf country to offer carbon capture services and provide necessary infrastructure to ensure a safe transport of CO2 from the Gulf country’s carbon-intensive sectors for permanent storage in Abu Dhabi’s geological formations.

SOUND SMART- DAC technology refers to the removal of CO2 directly from the atmosphere at any location, rather than carbon capture which is generally absorbed at the point of emissions. Carbon dioxide removed under DAC technologies can be permanently stored in deep geological formations or be utilized in various applications.

Adnoc is aiming to get involved in US projects: Adnoc will explore the possibilities to participate in several DAC and CO2 sequestration facilities in the US that are currently being developed by Occidental’s subsidiary 1PointFive. The US hubs include the under-construction Stratos DAC project — said to be the world's largest DAC plant — which is expected to capture 500k tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually when fully operational.

Could a similar plant be coming to the region? The DAC plant being assessed in the UAE would use the same technology as Stratos and could make it the first megaton-scale facility of its kind outside the US, the statement added.

All made possible by PACE: The partnership between Adnoc and Occidental comes under the UAE-US Partnership for Accelerating Clean Energy (PACE) which was launched in November 2022. PACE is expected to catalyze USD 100 bn in clean energy and carbon management projects, including CCS and DAC by 2035.

REMEMBER- Adnoc recently revised its net zero plan, targeting to achieve net zero in 2045 instead of an initial plan of 2050. It also plans to achieve zero methane emissions by 2030. Earlier this year, it allocated USD 15 bn to advance and accelerate low-carbon solutions, new energy investments, and decarbonization technologies earlier this year to help achieve its net zero goals.

Carbon capture projects are racking up numbers in the region: The UAE’s state-owned Sharjah National Oil Corporation signed an initial agreement with Japanese trading and investment company Sumitomo Corporation in late July to establish a carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) project in Sharjah. Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Energy and Indonesian state-owned energy company Pertamina also signed an MoU last month to explore opportunities in CCUS projects in Indonesia. Saudi Arabia’s oil giant Aramco and Norway-based Aker Carbon Capture also signed a agreement last month to explore partnership opportunities to employ CCUS and industrial modularization in the kingdom.