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Saudi Aramco reiterates oil-based ties, support for China’s clean energy rollout
- Aramco is developing technologies for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, while strengthening conventional energy resources, says company’s downstream president
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Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil and gas company by market capitalisation, will leverage its conventional oil supplier ties with China to jointly develop clean energy technologies and help Beijing accomplish its carbon neutral goal by 2060.
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Aramco has been supplying China with crude oil since 1991, according to its website. China imported 86 million tonnes of crude oil from Saudi Arabia last year, or 15.2 per cent of its total imports of 564 million tonnes, according to China Customs data.
“We are developing innovative technologies that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, like blue hydrogen, electro-fuels, and carbon capture and storage – all while strengthening our existing oil and gas production capacity,” Mohammed Y Al-Qahtani, Saudi Aramco’s downstream president told the SCMP China Conference via video-link on Thursday.
“Blue” hydrogen is made from natural gas, with the carbon emissions extracted and stored where it is made. It is a greener alternative to the vast majority of the hydrogen currently produced from fossil fuel without emissions mitigation.
Electro-fuels, or e-fuels, are manufactured by reacting carbon dioxide captured at factories with “green” hydrogen obtained by using renewable energy to split water into oxygen and hydrogen.
The state-backed energy behemoth has developed various low-carbon energy technologies, which Al-Qahtani said will be supplied to China in a strategy which “can bring results tomorrow”.
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