RIYADH — Saudi Aramco President and Chief Executive Officer Amin Hassan Al-Nasser explained that the Crown Prince's announcement of the Kingdom to achieve Net Zero carbon emissions by 2060 is a historical announcement and means a lot to everyone, and would create an appropriate platform for Saudi Aramco and other entities in the Kingdom and the world.

The Aramco president stressed during the session, The Challenge of Energy Transition from Major Oil to Major Renewable Energy, within the sessions of the Saudi Green Initiative (SGI) forum, with the participation of Patrick Pouyanné, chairman and CEO of the French Total company, which discusses keeping pace with the transformation in the energy sector.

In addition it focused on developing innovative technologies for converting crude oil into chemical products, establishing new relationships within supply chains, expanding its petrochemical activity based on innovation, selling energy assets, and investing in hydrogen fuel production.

He indicated that the company would achieve net-zero levels through its operations by 2050, indicating that the transition path will be complicated for the company, including great challenges, but we are confident that we will reach our goal by accelerating our efforts for a low-emissions future.

Al-Nasser pointed out that the company has great ambitions in terms of hydrocarbons, and works equally with the sources of raw energy and gas, and accelerates the company's work in oil production to reach 13 million barrels per day, taking into account the work on renewable energy.

We also have a very high ambition in renewable energy, and investing in blue hydrogen and gas, while looking forward to increasing gas capacity.

He stated that investing in gas would allow us to remove burning liquids in the Kingdom, and completely dispose of it within 10 years, and replace it with cleaner gas with less methane emissions.

Noting that since 2016, the world has faced a catastrophe due to the lack of investments, as nearly $700 billion were spent in 2014 and now about $315 billion, stressing that this major decline would have an impact, and that the use of technology will help us find solutions to reduce emissions today and invest in technologies.

He added that there are 12 centers around the world, including 9 outside the Kingdom and 3 in the Kingdom focusing on climate changes, sustainability and finding solutions to emissions.

In turn, Pouyanné stated that Total has restored a new production system and established a new structure based on assisting the climate change project, and is working on renewable energy by 2030, in order to balance the investment process in the field of energy and support the climate project. — SPA