ADNOC accelerates delivery of low carbon growth strategy

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) is accelerating operationalisation of its low carbon growth strategy, by establishing a new Low Carbon Solutions and International Growth vertical that will be led by Musabbeh Al Kaabi, who has been appointed Executive Director.

The Low Carbon Solutions & International Growth vertical will play an important role in advancing the company’s ongoing transformation, which has included a steadfast focus on the decarbonisation of its operations, energy efficiency and operational excellence, reductions in methane emissions, advancing CCUS to cut CO2 emissions, and the use of renewable and other zero-carbon energy sources.

His Excellency Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and ADNOC Managing Director and Group CEO, said: “The Low Carbon Solutions & International Growth vertical will accelerate delivery of our decarbonisation roadmap and advance our Net Zero by 2050 ambition. As the UAE prepares to host COP28 next year, we will continue to focus on practical and positive solutions that drive progress for the climate and the economy.

“With the direction and support of our nation’s wise leadership and the ADNOC Board, ADNOC is embarking on a new and exciting period of accelerated growth, with a determined focus on sustainability that will help future-proof our business for decades to come. To lead and drive the delivery of our new mandate, I am pleased to announce the appointment of Musabbeh Al Kaabi to the role of Executive Director, Low Carbon Solutions & International Growth, with effect from 16 January 2023.”

Al Kaabi is currently Chief Executive Officer of the UAE Investments platform at Mubadala Investment Company PJSC (Mubadala), the Abu Dhabi sovereign investor. Prior to that, he was the CEO of the Petroleum & Petrochemicals platform from 2017 to 2020, and the CEO of Mubadala Petroleum between 2014 and 2017. He began his career at ADNOC, where he spent 16 years in a series of senior roles across the core of ADNOC’s business.

Musabbeh Al Kaabi

Since its inception ADNOC has been focused on sustainability, including eliminating routine flaring of natural gas across its operations. Its investments in the early 1980s to gather and process flared gas have been instrumental in mitigating the negative environmental impacts associated with flaring. The company recently set a new upstream methane intensity target of 0.15 percent by 2025, which is the lowest in the Middle East, and plans to continue to reduce methane emissions through the use of flare gas recovery systems and regular leak detection and repair programs.

As part of its commitment to cutting emissions, ADNOC is building on the success of the region’s first commercial-scale carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) facility, to increase its CO2 capture capacity by over 500 percent, to approximately 5 million tons per year by 2030. This will be achieved by capturing additional CO2 from its gas processing plants and other sources of CO2 emissions. Meanwhile, in collaboration with industry partners, academia, and research institutes, ADNOC is exploring opportunities to advance CCUS technology development and deployment, while driving down its costs.

Leveraging advanced technology, ADNOC has taken tangible steps to implement a variety of energy efficiency projects to target both energy supply and demand. These include the introduction of waste heat recovery, installation of more energy efficient equipment, electrification, optimised operational solutions, and improved combustion efficiencies. In step with its broader digital transformation, it has also established an integrated energy monitoring system in its Panorama Digital Command Center. Through an interactive platform and dashboard, it can analyze its energy performance, to identify optimization across the value chain and drive further reduction in its energy footprint.

And, with an eye on the future, ADNOC is accelerating its investments in renewable energy solutions. Together with the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA) and Mubadala Investment Company, it has formed a partnership, under the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) brand, which targets well over 100GW of renewable energy by 2030.