Saudi Aramco is currently seeking to expand its use of renewable energy to shift from being an oil and gas producing company to an integrated international energy and petrochemicals company, according to an official of the company. “Its current efforts mean that not only does the company hope to utilize the best technologies to bolster its status as a key global competitor, but it intends to develop and produce such technologies as well,” said Nasser A. Al-Nafisee, General Manager of Public Affairs at Saudi Aramco. He made these remarks at the Saudi Renewable Energy Conference and Exhibition held recently at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM). The conference was convened under the sponsorship of Saudi Aramco, which is focusing on increasing efforts to shed light on the latest renewable energy utilization techniques in order to activate and develop its resources in Saudi Arabia and encourage local investment and cooperation opportunities in renewable energy. The company was joined by 11 international experts in renewable energy in helping define Saudi Arabia's efforts to better develop its abundant renewable resources. The conference featured renewable energy authorities from the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Spain, France, Canada, Switzerland, Hungary and Finland. “The effort to maintain the Kingdom's energy resources is nothing new to Saudi Aramco,” Al-Nafisee said. “Saudi Aramco realized early the importance of maintaining national energy resources. It operates its oil fields and industrial facilities by using the best cost-efficient scientific techniques that secure long-life reserves yet fully guarantee reliable supplies,” he explained. “Our plants managed to make electricity consumption reduction that is equal to saving 70 MBD of crude oil,” he added. Saudi Aramco has also sponsored and patronized many conferences, studies and events that have sought to open the way to a better utilization of renewable energy sources, including solar energy, wind power and other types of renewable energy, Al-Nafisee said. He praised KFUPM's initiative to hold the conference, which is considered a platform for a new start-up in the concept of renewable energy. The three-day conference featured discussions on green technologies, investment opportunities, business prospects, the government's role in supporting private sector initiatives in renewable energy, and the need for collaboration between the academic and industrial sectors to best develop renewable energy resources such as solar, wind and geothermal energy, as well as biomass and biofuels, and hydrogen and fuel cells.
