Main oil statistics.
With an oil production of 11 million bpd (barrels per day), Saudi Arabia is the largest oil manufacturer of the moment: a country of 35 million inhabitants. The United States is the largest producer with more than 12 million barrels a day and a population of 350 million. Russia ranks third. But Saudi Arabia is the largest oil exporter.
Last year, Aramco made a profit of $110 billion versus Apple’s $95 billion. Exxon earned $23. 0 billion and bp $7. 6 billion. For context, bp spent a total of $56 billion on damage and cleanup costs after the eruption and gigantic Deepwater oil spill. Horizon Platform in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.
Since the 1930s, when oil was discovered, Saudi Arabia has produced 267 billion barrels (bbl), or 15% of the world’s total. It currently pumps 11 million barrels per day (bpd), about one-tenth of global supply. , and sell 7 million bpd to consumers around the world.
Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) is the crown prince of Saudi Arabia and was appointed prime minister this week. At just 37 years old, MBS is the country’s de facto leader.
Climate concerns.
There are climatic considerations inside and outside Saudi Arabia. For starters, one of the world’s countries has average daily high temperatures of 104 to 114 degrees F in June, July and August. A lot of energy is spent to cool houses and this increases with each degree of temperature increase.
With an oil production of 11 million barrels per day, there is a large amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) fuels, whether the oil is burned domestically or sold to other countries. The inevitable result is that oil and fuel are to blame for around 50%. of GHG emissions, so Saudi Arabia and the United States, as well as Russia, are in the crosshairs.
In other words, Saudi Arabia has been responsible for 4% of global GHGs since 1965. When other countries declared their goal of succeeding on net emissions 0 by 2050, Saudi Arabia struggled with China and India, albeit for other reasons. It opted for net 0 until 2060 of 2050.
China and India have populations so massive that it will take longer to adjust to zero, especially with a giant portion of their populations aspiring to a higher quality of life.
Saudi Arabia is at the other end of the book. With a population of only 35 million, they have enormous national wealth to raise their population to a higher standard of living, but all the wealth comes from fossil fuels and their demonic emissions. It is difficult to turn off the taps of wealth.
Indeed, the Saudis, as de facto leaders of the OPEC cartel, recently imposed a production cut, possibly to prolong oil production and sales.
Energy transition:
Together with Egypt, they are making plans for a grid-wide 1 GW battery that is larger than those that are operating lately (around three hundred MW).
Saudi Arabia plans to plant 50 billion new trees in the region, and 50 billion is such a large number that it is difficult to understand.
Less energy waste: Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are pushing power to higher degrees in complicated business models.
A harsh disincentive for the energy transition is that Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia have the lowest domestic electricity tariff in the world with five c/kWh compared to the US tariff. UU. de 16 c/kWh.
Eco-city in the desert.
Saudi Arabia has laid out a vision for a new climate city on a desolate desert stretch between the Red Sea and the country of Jordan. MBS is all this, as part of his vision of a greener Saudi Arabia.
The city called Neom is a $500 billion allocation that will be a green city built on a 110-mile direct line, cars, but with a high-speed train.
The Neom city line.
A huge expanse of solar panels will supply inexhaustible energy, as the city will be powered entirely by renewable energy. NEOM will test whether green hydrogen from electrolysis can satisfy all the desires of the electric city: the first green hydrogen plant will cost 5,000 million dollars.
Saudi Arabia has the money to make it happen, and Neom’s progress will help, whether it’s just a symbolic climate project or an actual decision to reduce the country’s dependence on oil and gas.
Recent developments.
KAPSARC is a study and progression of oil in Riyadh. Some of its R plans
· Develop one of the EV charging stations.
· Construction of 33 sun and wind projects.
· Improve homes and offices with green electricity and energy efficiencies.
· Capture methane emissions from oil and fuel fields and send them through a pipeline to a 50-mile plant to convert them into petrochemicals.
· How to send blue hydrogen from methane to Southeast Asia and Europe. The Saudis sent blue ammonia to Japan starting in 2020 and struck a deal with Germany to produce hydrogen.
· Synthetic fuel from captured car coal and hydrogen will pollute cars on the market by 80% by 2025.
· The city of NEOM – see above.
One of the main goals of a green Saudi Arabia is to reduce its own intake by 1 million bpd and sell it for $100 million per day. This will help justify the goal of achieving net 0 by 2060.
But critics point out that its green transition situation omits Scope 3 emissions that most likely account for 80% of oil production (Scope 3 emissions are caused by products that one company manufactures and sells to other buyers). This is what some call greenwashing because it lacks credibility. , and also because the purpose of the Saudis is to increase oil production to thirteen million bpd.
Remove.
The Saudis point to the significant need for oil and fuel that will last for many decades around the world, an expected position since oil and fuel are the country’s main industry. But also, fossil energy is so reasonable that there is no economic incentive to obtain it. A transition to renewable energy began.
The truth of Saudi Arabia’s transition of power is that they don’t need to decrease oil production, but they need to decrease carbon emissions in production operations. This is similar to the purpose of many oil corporations operating in the United States, but contrasts with meteorological scientists. who argue that it is to decrease the production of oil and fuels and transfer them to renewable energy.
To carry out their strategy, the Saudis are deploying AI in one of their NASA-style rooms to monitor oil operations employing 60 drones and a fleet of robots in many other oil fields, or five billion data problems collected in real time. The numbers and graphs displayed on a wraparound wall are designed to decrease emissions while producing oil.
The climate bottom line: Just over a year ago, MBS announced at COP 26 in Glasgow that Saudi Arabia would be net 0 until 2060. Beyond 2050, the world will still want a lot of oil and gas, but also the world will then be more adaptable to climate change.