ADNOC ’s plans to develop large-scale carbon storage capacity in the United Arab Emirates have advanced after DNV formally endorsed the company’s West Aquifer site at the “site endorsement” stage.
The independent verification signals that the project has met key technical benchmarks required to move forward in the development cycle. According to DNV, ADNOC has demonstrated sufficient geological understanding, reservoir modelling, containment integrity and risk management planning to support progression toward implementation.
The endorsement follows earlier feasibility confirmation in late 2024 and represents another step in positioning the UAE as a regional hub for carbon capture and storage (CCS).
DNV’s review covered subsurface data interpretation, dynamic modelling of CO2 behavior, monitoring and verification frameworks, and the long-term strategy for safe injection and permanent containment. The assessment also evaluated how the project intends to demonstrate conformance between predicted and actual reservoir performance once injection begins.
Building Confidence in Long-Term Storage Integrity
Third-party validation plays an increasingly important role in CCS deployment, particularly in emerging markets where large-scale storage projects are still taking shape. By achieving site endorsement, ADNOC strengthens the case that the West Aquifer formation is technically suitable for secure and permanent CO2 storage.
Brice Le Gallo, Vice-President and Regional Director for Southern Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America at DNV Energy Systems, described the project as a potential cornerstone for industrial decarbonization in the region.
Large-scale storage capacity, he noted, will be essential for reducing emissions from heavy industry and enabling low-carbon hydrogen production.
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The Gulf region is widely viewed as strategically positioned to scale CCS, given its subsurface expertise and concentration of energy-intensive industries. DNV’s recent analysis of oil and gas decarbonization pathways in the Gulf highlights carbon capture as a central lever, not only for cutting industrial emissions, but also for supporting blue hydrogen supply chains.
For ADNOC, the endorsement reinforces its broader climate strategy, which relies on expanding capture and storage infrastructure to reduce operational emissions while maintaining energy production.
With regulatory confidence and technical validation now in place, attention will shift to the next development phase, and to whether the West Aquifer can become one of the Middle East’s anchor storage sites for CO2.
