Masdar, Abu Dhabi's multibillion dollar renewable energy and clean technology initiative, and Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (GPIC) signed recently an agreement to monetize the emission reduction associated with carbon dioxide capture and recycling at GPIC's fertilizer facility in Bahrain, under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The project, which will capture carbon dioxide from flue gas and then recycle the captured gas as feedstock in the production of urea and methanol, is expected to reduce more than 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year as of 2010. The project will be developed under the Clean Development Mechanism, a project-based regulatory mechanism governed and audited by the United Nations (UN). CDM provides financial incentives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in countries that do not have binding reduction commitments under the Kyoto Protocol, by turning emission reductions into tradable assets or “Certified Emission Reductions” (CERs). Masdar will manage the CDM process leading to the project registration at the United Nations regulatory body - CDM Executive Board, a pre-requisite to the generation of CERs. Masdar will also author a new CDM methodology for this first of a kind project type. “Masdar is introducing the CDM to the hydrocarbon-based fertilizer industry in the Gulf region,” said Dr. Sultan Al-Jaber, Masdar's chief executive officer. “The Clean Development Mechanism provides an incentive to GPIC to develop the CO2 capture project, and we expect this project to pave the way for more carbon reduction initiatives in the industry.” Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company is a joint venture for the manufacture of fertilizers and petrochemicals, and is equally owned by the government of the Kingdom of Bahrain, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, and Petrochemical Industries Company, Kuwait. It manufactures fertilizers and petrochemicals, producing almost 1.5 million tons of ammonia, urea and methanol per year. “This project represents an important milestone in GPIC's plans for sustainable growth and we are dedicated to leading the promotion of the CDM within the petrochemical industry” said Abdul Rahman Jawahery, general manager, GPIC. Since 2007, Masdar has been developing competences to assist oil, gas and industrial companies in the region in the development of Clean Development Mechanism projects and monetization of the corresponding carbon emission reduction. The Masdar Initiative is Abu Dhabi's multi-faceted, multi-billion dollar investment in the development and commercialization of innovative technologies in renewable, alternative and sustainable energies as well as sustainable design. Masdar is driven by the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (ADFEC), a wholly-owned company of the government of Abu Dhabi through the Mubadala Development Company. In January 2008, Abu Dhabi announced it will invest $15 billion in Masdar, the largest single government investment of its kind. GPIC produces approximately 1,200 tons daily of ammonia (400,000 tons per annum), ,700 tons daily of urea (600,000 tonnes per annum) and 1,200 tonnes of methanol (400,000 tons per annum). __
