The Emirati hydrocarbons giant, ADNOC, announced on Thursday the award of construction contracts for a major gas project, a few weeks before the world climate conference (COP28) in the rich Gulf state.
The project, which concerns the Hail and Ghasha offshore fields, will be the “first in the world” to operate with a goal of “net zero emissions”, the UAE state-owned company said in a statement, drawing criticism from advocates of the environment.
“Presenting a fossil fuel project as being ‘net zero’, even when only talking about its operational emissions, is completely misleading,” reacted Mia Moisio, from the Climate Action Tracker expert group, emphasizing that the The majority of hydrocarbon emissions come from their combustion and not from their production.
Store 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 per year
Signed on the last day of the energy fair in Abu Dhabi, the contracts awarded by ADNOC have a total estimated value of $16.94 billion.
Construction work on the two offshore sites has been entrusted to a joint venture between the Emirati National Petroleum Construction and the Italian Saipem, while the Italian company Tecnimont will be responsible for the onshore infrastructure. According to the ADNOC press release, the project will include “innovative decarbonization technologies” allowing the capture and storage of 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 per year, and will benefit from low-carbon hydrogen and electricity produced from nuclear and renewable energies.
The Hail-Ghasha project is part of the Ghasha concession, in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, which aims to produce more than 42.5 million cubic meters of gas per day by 2030, contributing “to the self-sufficiency of the United Arab Emirates in gas, and the growth and export strategy of ADNOC gas”, the gas subsidiary of the group, according to the same source.
“Inaccurate speculation”
The concession is operated by ADNOC, Eni, OMV, Wintershall Dea and Lukoil. In a report published in September, Climate Action Tracker highlighted the UAE’s dependence on gas for its electricity production, raising concerns about the COP28 host country’s bet on carbon capture.
The UN climate conference, which will open on November 30 in Dubai, is chaired by the boss of ADNOC, Sultan al-Jaber, whose appointment to this post has aroused the fears of environmental defenders , which denounce the role of the hydrocarbon sector in global warming. At the opening of the show on Monday, Sultan al-Jaber reiterated that the gradual exit from fossil fuels was “inevitable”, while emphasizing the dependence of the world economy on oil, gas and coal.
ADNOC committed in July to achieving carbon neutrality in 2045 for its own operations, a target which does not take into account indirect emissions from hydrocarbons burned by its customers, and which represent the vast majority of its carbon footprint.
According to the organization Global Witness, indirect emissions from the activities of the Emirati company should on the contrary increase by more than 40% in 2030 compared to this year. With production forecast at more than 1.3 billion barrels of crude and 90 billion cubic meters of gas in 2030, final emissions from ADNOC’s products will reach 684 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, she said. affirmed in a press release published Thursday. “We recognize the climate imperative and welcome constructive dialogue towards practical solutions,” the company responded to Global Witness. But “inaccurate speculation” does not serve that purpose, she added.