New decarbonisation roadmap sees PDO halving emissions by 2030

Net Zero: 150 opportunities identified to help achieve national energy company’s energy transition goals

MUSCAT, DEC 13

A Decarbonisation Roadmap rolled out by Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), the nation’s biggest producer of oil and gas, envisions plans for a ramped-up utilisation of renewables, switch to hydrogen-based alternatives, gas flaring reduction, and carbon capture and storage, among other objectives.

The roadmap is part of a refreshed energy transition strategy designed to enable majority state-owned PDO to meet the nation’s “increasing demand for low-carbon energy while improving the resilience of its core oil and gas portfolio,” according to PDO Managing Director Steve Phimister (pictured).

Writing in ‘Energy Connects’, a UAE based global digital news platform, Phimister said the revamped strategy will help the company deliver on its decarbonisation goals in line with Oman’s broader Net Zero target.

“In essence, this roadmap gives us line of sight to achieve our ambition of net-zero Oil and Gas operations by 2050 with an interim step to halve emissions by 2030. This entails investment in all forms of energy efficiency, flaring reduction, methane emissions reduction and a shift to renewable power consumption,” he stated in an opinion piece published earlier this week.

Significantly, as many as 150 “opportunities” have been identified by PDO to help achieve its decarbonisation and energy transition goals. They include initiatives to boost the company’s investments in solar and wind power generation capacity, revamp energy-intensive compressors and pumps, and to roll out a methane leak detection and repair (LDAR) programme.

“We are actively incorporating renewable energy into our operations with an ambition to reach 50 per cent renewable power consumption by 2030 through additional solar and wind projects in Oman. This expands on our current 10 per cent renewable capacity from the landmark solar scheme at Amin, a 100-megawatt Independent Power Producer (IPP) project which provides energy for our Interior activities,” the Managing Director said.

Also as part its revitalized energy transition strategy, PDO plans to explore opportunities to support carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS), decommission some of its cogeneration units and enhance its energy conservation and efficiency measures, Phimister said.

At the same time, gas production is proposed to be boosted to help meet strong demand growth, as well as serve as a “bridge to a cleaner energy future”, the Managing Director said. He cited in this regard PDO’s mega projects at Rabab Harweel and Yibal Khuff, which have helped raise the company’s gas output by more than 10 million cubic metres a day.

Further, in conjunction with a strategy to reduce gas consumption for power generation, all routine gas flaring will be brought to an end by 2027, he noted.

Additionally, PDO aims to support the use of hydrogen-based alternatives to meet its energy requirements. To this end, the company is seeking to partner in the development of hydrogen supply and distribution projects through the National Hydrogen Alliance (Hy-Fly), a strategic public-private collaboration.

“Key opportunities include hydrogen blending into natural gas pipelines to reduce emissions, or as a substitute for natural gas boilers, heaters and furnaces with hydrogen fuel cells. We are investigating the use of produced water from our oil fields as feedstock to hydrogen electrolysers, thus also removing the energy consumption for deep water disposal,” Phimister added.