Saudi Aramco is expected to reach a financial investment decision by year-end on the first two phases of its project to develop a carbon capture and storage infrastructure in Saudi Arabia that will tap carbon dioxide (CO2) discharge from its gas processing plants.

MEED understands the first two phases will require a capital expenditure of between $1.5bn and $2bn.

As previously reported, Aramco has brought on board US oil field services provider SLB (formerly Schlumberger) and Germany-headquartered Linde, the world’s largest industrial gas producer, as partners for the initial phase of the project.

The second-phase partners are US-headquartered Air Products and oil field services provider Baker Hughes.

Aramco is expected to issue the main tender for the Accelerated Carbon Capture & Sequestration (ACCS) project to contractors in April, as MEED reported.

The firm issued a solicitation of interest (SoI) document for the project in January.

The ACCS project aims to capture carbon dioxide from Aramco’s northern gas plants of Wasit, Fadhili and Khursaniyah, as well as from the operations of its subsidiary Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) and Saudi industrial gases provider Air Products Qudra.

UK-headquartered Wood Group has performed the planned project’s front-end engineering and design work.

It is understood Japan’s Mizuho is the client’s financial adviser for the transaction.

The project’s construction period is expected to take three years, with commercial operation scheduled for 2027.

According to an industry source, the project will have nine phases, with total capacity expected to reach 44 million tonnes a year (t/y).

ACCS project scope

The ACCS facility will capture streams from the acid gas enrichment units of the Wasit, Fadhili and Khursaniyah plants. The CO2 will be compressed, dried and fed into the collection pipeline system.

The network will also absorb additional CO2 volumes from Sabic and Air Products Qudra after the initial compression and drying of the CO2 discharge at their respective facilities.

The combined gaseous CO2 stream will then be compressed at the centralised compression facility located at Fadhili into dense phase CO2 and sent into the main pipeline for sequestration.

The main pipeline network will transport the CO2 about 240 kilometres away for injection into the Jaham-Duhul-Maqlah saline aquifer.

The ACCS project scope finishes at the injection well control skids. Injection wells and other associated units are outside the scope of the ACCS project, Aramco said in the SoI document.

The ACCS project’s initial phase is expected to have a capacity of about 9 million t/y, with the collection pipeline system designed to support the future expansion of the scheme.

Aramco held an early engagement meeting on 20 February with interested contractors to discuss the project. Contractors that attended the conference include:

• GS Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• Hyundai Engineering (South Korea)
• JGC Corporation (Japan)
• Larsen & Toubro Energy Hydrocarbon (India)
• Saipem (Italy)
• Tecnicas Reunidas (Saipem)
• Tecnimont (Italy)

Aramco sustainability measures

Saudi Aramco is making its core operations more environmentally friendly to meet its target of attaining net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and in line with Saudi Arabia’s net-zero emissions by 2060 target.

Aramco does not face the same intense pressure from climate activists and investors to slash carbon and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and tackle climate change as some of its international counterparts.

As the main engine of Saudi Arabia’s economy, Aramco is crucial in helping the kingdom achieve its Cop26 environmental commitments.