Saudi Arabian Oil Company President and CEO Amin H.Nasser has said the an absence of international resolve to take concrete action against forces that attacked Saudi Aramco Facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais last month may embolden the attackers and indeed put the world’s energy security at greater risk.
The Aramco President was delivering keynote address at the 2019 Oil & Money Conference in London yesterday. He, however, assured world community that Saudi Aramco remains committed to ensuring reliable supply and access to energy the world needs, which is key to the future health of world industry.
The brazen attack, however, did not dampen the spirit of men and women at Aramco and ‘thanks to the tireless efforts of our people, their creativity, and the high degree to which our supply and service chains have been localized in recent years, the most urgent work essential to production restoration was prioritized.”
He said Production restoration was expedited and completed, beating the set deadline by about a week. That took back Saudi Aramco to pre-attack production levels. “We are also on track to regain our maximum sustained capacity, or MSC, of 12 million bpd by the end of November, as we announced. That too might come earlier than the target,” he said.
“This rapid turnaround has surprised many, but our people are known for extraordinary performance when they are put to the test—and I am proud of the men and women of Aramco for the way they rose to this tough challenge.”
Additionally, the optimum flexibility and planned fail-safe redundancies built into facilities and vast production network proved instrumental in accelerating the restoration work.
The sharp oil market reaction following the attacks on our facilities reflected understandable supply concerns. But Saudi Aramco’s rapid response and the confidence of its various stakeholders helped to calm the global oil market.
In the absence of those capabilities, and had the market believed the supply loss would be longer term, the reaction would have been much steeper and more sustained.
He said the attacks not only struck Saudi Aramco and Saudi Arabia, but also targeted the global economy and indeed the wider global community.
Aramco President denied any impact of attack on company’s plan to list its offering on stock market. He assured that the plan was on schedule.
During his address Nasser highlighted that both existing and new energy sources will be needed to satisfy planet’s needs for energy and economic development, while concurrently promoting climate protection. He discussed the need to have a more realistic, comprehensive and inclusive strategy to make Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions management more effective.
Saudi Aramco President said: “We could consider four key strategies that have the potential to make the global effort for GHG emissions management much more effective – going beyond electric power generation and light duty passenger transport; extending clean R&D and technology funding to include existing energy resources; moving toward a circular economy; and taking advantage of the greenhouse-gas reduction synergies across economic sectors offered by the circular economy. Without a doubt, oil and gas will be here for many decades to come. But there can also be no question that climate change is among the most significant challenges facing humanity.”
Nasser also shared Saudi Aramco’s achievement in carbon intensity which is among the lowest globally at 10 kilograms of CO2 equivalent per barrel of oil equivalent, as well as the Company’s methane gas intensity of 0.06 percent, one of the lowest levels in the industry. He also highlighted some of Saudi Aramco’s other achievements in this area, including higher-mileage and lower-carbon integrated engine-fuel systems; carbon-free hydrogen fuel; and Carbon Capture, Utilization & Storage (CCUS).
SOURCE : ALBILAD
