RIYADH, 22 September 2006 — The Kingdom has reaffirmed its support for the multilateral initiative to cut down atmospheric CO2 emissions by deploying technology for carbon dioxide capture and storage in partnership with the private sector.

The commitment to help contain CO2 emissions by installing systems to capture and store them was made during the concluding session of the First International Conference on Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) in Saudi Arabia. The Clean Development Mechanism is an arrangement under the Kyoto Protocol allowing industrialized countries with a greenhouse gas reduction commitment (so-called Annex 1 countries) to invest in emission-reducing projects in developing countries as an alternative to what is generally considered more costly emission reductions in their own countries.

This means that Annex 1 countries can invest in the reduction of emissions in the Kingdom to meet their own Kyoto commitments. For the Kingdom it means a potential to receive foreign investment in its industrial sector, most notably in oil extraction and power generation, for modern and cleaner technologies.

Participating in a dialogue on carbon dioxide capture and storage at the King Faisal Hall yesterday, Majid Al-Moneef, Saudi Arabia’s governor to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), said the aim of the dialogue was to “find acceptable global solutions to global environmental issues, such as stabilization and reduction of atmospheric CO2 emissions.”

Speaking on behalf of the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi, Al-Moneef said that since oil and gas alone will account for two-thirds of energy for at least till the middle of this century, exploration of global solutions to environmental issues such as stabilization and reduction of atmospheric CO2 emissions have become a pressing need of the hour.

The storage of carbon dioxide is mostly a cost-added process, however to mitigate the cost the gas could be harnessed for other use, such as enhancing the oil-recovery program in depleted fields while reducing CO2 emission into the atmosphere.

“We hope the roundtable will help to identify the potential role for the EU-OPEC Dialogue and cooperation within the industry and government and between them in promoting CCS research and development programs,” said Al-Moneef.

Addressing the participants on Wednesday night, Mohammad Al-Sabban, the conference chairman and senior economic adviser to Naimi, expressed his optimism that a so-called Designated National Authority on CDM in Saudi Arabia would be established soon.

Under the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change, countries that sign up for the CDM program must assign a national authority to handle the projects.

“We’re expecting to recommend a Designated National Authority after we come up with the legal framework for the implementation of the first draft of the development mechanism,” Al-Sabban told the conference. “We will also try to coordinate between the private sector and the relevant government agency in order to see how to implement this mechanism in Saudi Arabia.”

“In effect, the CDM will also help in the Saudization program of the government,” Al-Sabban observed, referring to the Kingdom’s ongoing effort to replace foreign guest workers with qualified Saudi workers to alleviate unemployment issues, particularly among the young.