Saudi Aramco is in the final stages of identifying the exact fields in the Jubail complex that will be utilized for carbon capture and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and eventually for increased oil production.
As reported by S&P Global Commodity Insights, senior VP of exploration Samer Ashgar shared that “We have identified the fields we want to be injecting that [CO2] in. This is what we’re doing right now, we’re just making sure that they’re developed, they’re delineated.”
Saudi Aramco shared that a new 9 million mt/year carbon capture hub is set to become operational in 2027 after plans for it development were announced by the company back in November 2022. The company also shared its construction and deployment schedule, as well as its location in Jubail.
There are advanced plans to increase the carbon storage capacity to 44 million mt/year by 2035, which reflects the intention to use EOR at a larger scale.
Carbon capture combined with EOR can be used to increase oil production from largely depleted wells, but the company doesn’t plan to revise its 13 million barrel per day capacity target, which is expected to be reached in 2027.
Relevant: Saudi Arabia To Launch A $10.4 Billion Carbon Capture Fund
The focus at this point seems to be on the operational and financial aspects of the carbon capture and storage project. Mr Ashgar commented on this by saying: “One of the things we are talking about is how do we make sure that we optimize the CO2 injection, the capex costs for the injection.”
There are two other large companies involved in the development of the carbon capture hub – Linde and Schlumberger, both of which will be contributing to the storage with their own captured CO2.
