Saudis Concerned with “Green” Policies to Reduce Oil Consumption

Saudi Arabia has expressed concern that oil could become a victim of "selective" environment policies and called for striking a balance between a cleaner environment and development. 

The Saudi Oil Minister al-Nuaimi claims that the use of advanced technology to carry out environment-friendly projects is the best solution to achieve economic development without harming the climate.  "We are concerned that some environment-related decisions, which some countries are trying to impose, could reduce global consumption of oil," the Saudi Oil Minister said.  "This could hamper our economic development programs because of our heavy reliance on oil exports," Nuaimi told an international conference on Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which opened Tuesday in Riyadh.  "We are trying to (convince) the world to adopt positive environment decisions that safeguard the environment and contribute to global economic development."

Introduced more than eight years ago, CDM is a part of the Kyoto Protocol that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions of mainly carbon-based activities by establishing environment-friendly projects using advanced technology.  The CDM is especially crucial for oil-producing nations that fear their exports could be adversely affected if industrialized countries implement the Kyoto Protocol in six years, thus requiring higher environmental standards.

By setting up environment-friendly projects in developing countries, the industrialized nations receive the so-called Certified Emission Reduction certificates, needed to indicate their compliance to the Kyoto Protocol.  Conference chairman Mohammad al-Sabban, an advisor to the Saudi oil minister, said the kingdom was keen to ensure that "oil does not become a victim of selective policies being adopted by certain countries.  The CDM ensures a fair distribution of commitments between the industrialized countries and developing nations," said al-Sabban.  Sabban asserted that using artificial methods by the international community to "reduce energy consumption" will not provide the needed solution for a cleaner environment.  "The solution is through developing the technological alternatives... We believe that CDM provides the required balance between energy, development and environment," Sabban said. 

The conference will also examine investment opportunities available in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the oil-rich Gulf region in new technology projects which reduce gas emissions.  Prominent among these technologies is the carbon capture and storage technology, based on removing carbon dioxide from certain projects and then injecting it in mature oilfields.  Nuaimi said that the use of such technology increases the production of oilfields by 10 percent to 15 percent "which means increasing global oil reserves."