UAE Says Climate Talks Should Include Input From Oil & Gas Sector

The COP28 climate summit slated to be held in Abu Dhabi in 2023 should include input from experts and professionals from the oil and gas industry because the world cannot simply unplug from the energy system as it is today, Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, the UAE's Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, said on Wednesday.

"We can't simply unplug from the energy system of today and we can't do this with a flip of a switch. We need to include the energy experts in the consultations and in the discussions and we need to make economic systems work more efficiently with much less carbon," said Al Jaber, as quoted by the Emirates news agency WAM.

The UAE will host COP28 next year, following COP26 in the UK last November and the planned COP27 this year in Egypt.

The UAE, currently OPEC's third-largest oil producer after Saudi Arabia and Iraq, has set a goal to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, similar to most of the western economies. At the same time, the country looks to boost its crude oil production capacity to 5 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2030, up from 4 million bpd now.

The Minister of Industry Al Jaber is also Group CEO at the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), which pumps nearly all the crude oil in the UAE.

ADNOC believes it can decarbonize its operations and raise its production capacity and still be on track to meet the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Net Zero by 2050 Strategic Initiative.

ADNOC has recently signed deals to work on ways to reduce emissions from its operations. One of the agreements is with GE, aiming to develop a roadmap to reducing carbon emissions from gas turbines which provide power for ADNOC's downstream and industry operations. Another is with Abu Dhabi National Energy Company PJSC (TAQA)—a $3.6 billion strategic project "to significantly decarbonize ADNOC's offshore production operations, further strengthening ADNOC and TAQA's position in driving and leading sustainability efforts and supporting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) 'Net-Zero by 2050 Strategic Initiative'."

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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