Carbon sequestration

This refers to the story “Kingdom to inject CO2 into oil field” (Oct.14). It reported that the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Petroleum and Saudi Aramco would initiate a pilot project to inject 800,000 metric tons per year (40 million cubic feet per day)of CO2 underground for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) purposes at Ghawar oil field. It follows Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s announcement last week that Canada would invest $2 billion to build carbon capture and storage (CCS) facilities in the Province of Alberta, the oil industry hub. Such announcements depict that the oil producing nations and companies are taking positive initiatives in CO2 sequestration to reduce this greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. Capturing and storing underground CO2 for eventual use for EOR must not be confused with sequestering of CO2. Compared to natural carbon sequestration by forests and oceans, the human sequestration means permanently removing CO2 from the atmosphere, may it be by storing underground and/or under saltwater bodies. The stored CO2 that is to be used for oil recovery purposes will eventually be released to the atmosphere once the oil is used as fuel. The only gain from EOR technology is for the oil producers who will recuperate the last drop of oil from the oil reservoirs underground which otherwise will hold substantial amount of oil not extracted by traditional water or steam injection methods.

The oil companies will capture CO2 from emitters such as power plants, pipe to storage in their fields and inject it into wells for EOR. The emitter will earn credits for carbon reduction in voluntary carbon market and make profit by selling CO2 to the oil companies.

On the surface the oil companies appear greener to the general public while actually they are investing to harvest the last drop of their product trapped underground that caused pollution in the first place. EOR is a win-win solution for the energy and oil companies.

Iqbal Paul, By e-mail published 27 October 2009

Cycling in Copenhagen

This refers to the article “Cycling in Copenhagen” by Aijaz Zaka (Oct. 23). It was a wonderful piece, I enjoyed reading it, and I hope that Copenhagen experiment will be a success. However, I think there is a small flaw in the following paragraph: “But there’s another explanation why Scandinavian countries obsess over climate change. With their proximity to the North Pole and with the Arctic ice fast melting, the Nordic nations may be among the first victims of global warming.” That is not entirely true: try pouring 10 liters of water into a bathtub at one end. It won’t stay in the one end. It will even out, creating equal depths in the whole bathtub. Likewise, if the poles melt, not only will the Scandinavian countries suffer but the whole world will, with low-lying countries affected first, as the author wrote “low-lying countries like Bangladesh and the Maldives face an immediate threat of being swallowed up by rising sea levels.”

So we the Scandinavian countries are not just thinking locally, we are thinking globally, since this is a global issue. I look forward to more articles from Zaka.

Michael N Jensen, By e-mail published 27 October 2009

Et tu, Brute?

I respect and admire Najeeb Al-Zamil. But he has gone too far in criticizing his own people (Oct. 22). He will agree with me that many expatriates are pretty judgmental in nature; they have bad ideas about Saudis even before they land here. I have seen and experienced this myself. To them, Saudis are nothing but “savages who got money by mistake”! Many large companies are like colonies where Saudis are not allowed. In many companies, there are expat mafias where non-Saudi managers do everything to keep locals out. Naturally, there is frustration among Saudis. Yes, our society needs to change. We need to open up. We need to learn to accept people the way they are. Yet, we need help, and we need these attacks to stop. Al-Zamil’s tirade is certainly not helpful.

Ahmad Al-Abdullah, By e-mail published 27 October 2009

Niqab and the West

This refers to the letter from Robin Robinson (Oct. 25), wherein he asks Muslims not to complain about restrictions imposed on them in Western or other countries as he faced difficulties being in Saudi Arabia, it seems he is trying to mix regulations with faith. Not all Muslims live in Saudi Arabia, 60 percent of Muslims live in Asian countries and of those, 20 percent live in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia accounts for only 1/5th of Muslims living in the Middle East. I wonder if he means that all Muslims (the majority of whom in the West are from Asian countries) should stop following their faith as they are now in the West. Saudi Arabia is known for its strict regulations so if one needs to be in Saudi Arabia, he must abide by the laws and regulations without connecting them to religion or faith. Women cannot drive in Saudi Arabia. Does this mean all Muslim women will not be issued with driving licenses the world over? One comes to Saudi Arabia to work and earn money so do it peacefully and without breaking local laws and follow the simple logic — in Rome, do as the Romans do.

Syed Jaffery, By e-mail published 27 October 2009

A gift from past

M.J.Akbar in his column “BJP: A gift for the past” (Oct. 25) rightly pointed out that the moderate policies of Atal Behari Vajpayee, BJP as a national party had gained acceptance among Indians. As long as Vajpayee was in command, he maintained the balance and projected a moderate and liberal face of BJP and did not allow his party to become an ultranationalistic communal party. After the departure of Vajpayee from active politics, the BJP under the leadership of L.K.Advani, became a party of confused and disorganized politicians. The party is passing through a great turmoil where a tussle is taking place between ultra-nationalists and moderates.

A multicultural and multireligious country such as India will never accept policies of communal, linguistic or regional hatred. The defeat of Shiv Sena and the BJP alliance is clearly due to the reason that both wanted to divide India, one in the name of region other in the name of religion. An ordinary Indian is interested in earning bread and butter, not merely in dirty politics. The sooner they understand, the better for them.

Saad Hassan, New Delhi published 27 October 2009

Saudi-expat relations

For the last few days I have been reading comments on Saudi and expatriate relations. We should not see this relation only from the employee and employer angle. Human relations are based on certain values. The guides to these values are the Qur’an and the Hadith. If all of us follow the true teachings of Qur’an and Hadith, none of us will have any problems in dealing with others and no one will have any complaints.Our religion teaches us to respect human rights. Relations between Saudis and non-Saudis is overall good. Such problems exist in all societies.

Fahim Zia, By e-mail published 27 October 2009