ADSW

[M011-02] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:00:38 · ADSW · 2020-01-14 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

The first part of the preparation was to move from calling our ministry an oil ministry to energy ministry, which used to be oil and gas ministry and now it is an energy ministry. I'm particularly honored also that I have, as a minister, a full command of all the ecosystem of what it takes to have an energy strategy and the execution of that strategy. So as an energy minister in Saudi Arabia, I have no excuse for not conducting or developing an energy strategy and executing an energy strategy with all the enablers that any energy minister could have. The way we are approaching sustainable energy strategy and the ecosystem is to make sure that we are also prepared to relate to the world.

[M011-03] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:01:56 · ADSW · 2020-01-14 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

So what is Saudi Arabia endowed with is somewhat different than some other countries and the holistic notion of world energy market should always be present when you think where you should go with your own energy mix and where you go with your energy strategy. Countries like Saudi Arabia, which is probably the biggest exporting country in the whole world; you cannot disassociate that part of you from your indigenous local domestic prerequisites. So actually, we are incentivized as Saudi Arabia, that the more we use for our local market, our own consumption, more renewables and more gas, the more we will be freeing more liquids, which is exportable to the world oil markets and therefore we are actually adding more exportable amount of oil. But, that is not the incentive that we have.

[M011-04] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:03:16 · ADSW · 2020-01-14 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

We believe now, and this is something you will soon feel, see or hear within the next few months. We are building an energy strategy; we are focusing more on our energy mix and what would be the most effective economical energy mix that we have in Saudi Arabia, Free of any biases of any nature. We will look at the economics of it as opposed to the preferential or preconceived preferences that we may have. We know for certain now that the best power mix for Saudi Arabia, for energy power mix is gas and renewable and certain areas in Saudi Arabia we will have to settle for some liquids because of distance and space and what have you and also the amount of consumption that we have.

[M011-05] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:04:25 · ADSW · 2020-01-14 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

So by 2030 I can easily vouch that we would be developing our gas resources, we will be quite big in terms of our renewable use. Also, we have our chairman of the high level hydrocarbon committee, Crown Prince Mohammed, who is a very challenging leader and he is all over the place with us in terms of engaging in manufacturing. Many people talk about renewable as a source of energy, but it is also good source of diversity of your economy if you are engaged in developing and manufacturing and even exporting.

[M011-06] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:05:28 · ADSW · 2020-01-14 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

So our aspiration in terms of renewable be solar or wind, is not just also in fulfilling our own demand, as Saudi Arabia domestically indigenous demand, but also involving ourselves in manufacturing with exporting huge amount of export if we can, plus developing our local companies, our local industries to make sure that they are become as competitive as master. For example, we have Aqua Power and do not be surprised that we would have more than Aqua Power in this endeavor. Again, we went as an oil producer and a gas producer, we want to have a world that gives equal playing fields to all sorts of energies.

[M011-07] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:06:28 · ADSW · 2020-01-14 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

Fundamentally, we are proactively engaged in convincing the world that we should be neutral on what source of energy we use, as long as we involve ourselves in mitigating the impacts that it may create. Right now we have quite a few technologies that are in use such as carbon sequestration and the evolution of that is quite tremendous.

[M011-08] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:06:55 · ADSW · 2020-01-14 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

We have introduced recently, as Saudi Arabia, the concept of circular carbon economy, which foe me is the right solution and a way forward for us to enforce that notion that regardless of what source of energy use, so long as you mitigate and sequester the impact, the emitted gases be it carbon, methane or whatever that may cause or may be a source of the various gases that can cause climate change, so, as long as you can sequester that and in our concept of circular carbon economy, we are actually going on further than that, we are saying that if you sequester, you could use, you could make carbon as a material. We have to appreciate that we are dealing with something with a value and if you can manufacture it, make use of it, and monetize that material, it will be a win-win situation for the whole thing.

[M011-09] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:08:23 · ADSW · 2020-01-14 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

Also in Saudi Arabia, for all of that ecosystem to work, you need to be engaged in too many things, and I am sorry for taking so much time from my friend Mohammed. We are doing all of that cognizant of the fact that we need to do the whole thing holistically. So, it is not a disrupted or activities that are done in silos where each silo is working in complete isolation from the rest. We have an effective efficiency program because we are Saudi Arabia, believe in producing and using energy efficiently and, as a producer, we have to become a model of how we can produce energy in efficient way and an environmentally safe and sound way. I was pleased to mention a few numbers yesterday on terms of how effective Aramco is, in terms of producing oil and gas with the minimal amount of emissions.

[M011-10] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:09:44 · ADSW · 2020-01-14 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

We also have to be an efficient consumer of energy. It is extremely virtuous, as a producing country that we present ourselves as an efficient user of energy also. For that to happen, you need to have price reform and now we have a very effective price reform program, which will give lend support to the efficiency program. Prior to that efficiency program, we worked with our local manufacturers and international manufacturers. So for some of you, I do not know if you heard of the so-called Saudi Cafe, which is similar to the US standard in terms of how much cars are supposed to be using, in terms of getting a kilometers per liter, but we are moving towards a more efficient car fleet in Saudi Arabia, which is by 2025 will be almost as equal to the US.

[M011-11] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:11:00 · ADSW · 2020-01-14 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

We have changed every standard that there is, including our building code, to ensure that these new buildings will be more efficient. All utilities are being converted now to more efficient utilities, all manufacturers are being reformed to make sure that they are more efficient as well as every air conditioner, refrigerator and car in Saudi Arabia, we are moving in that direction. More important, we are talking about conversion of our energy mix, whereby we will be using more gas and more renewables and we want to become part of the solution not only that, we want to be engaged with every possible partner to be proactively engaged on how we can mitigate emissions, but primarily we want to do it with a view that people have to give all sorts of energies, also sources of energy a fair, equitable chance.

[M011-12] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:12:26 · ADSW · 2020-01-14 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

So long as we mitigate these emissions, it is equally important to be realistic about what sort of energy mix the global economy would have, there is nobody who is somewhat sensible would not think that by 2040 we still need a lot of oil, a lot of gas, probably a lot of coal and a lot of renewables. So, if we can agree that, we could have that fair, equitable chance, I think it will be a way that would advance and help us all.

[M011-14] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:18:38 · ADSW · 2020-01-14 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

Mindful of the time, I think coalition can be formed if people can settle to the principle that we should be more focused about emissions as opposed to the source of energy. You cannot entangle too many objectives in one and you think you can get away with what you desire. You cannot attend to so-called security of supply issue by saying, I do not want to rely on Middle East sources of energy and yet you also want to achieve sustainable development goals without making sure and in some countries, I was reading an article today about another country that said, I do not want fossil fuels and I do not want nuclear. Well, what else can you do? How could you assume that you could have a sustainable economic growth?

[M011-15] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:19:37 · ADSW · 2020-01-14 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

Certainly, I think there is a common denominator that can bring everybody together, which we should be focusing on reduction of emissions of all gases that may cause climate change. If that principle is there, then we should be not concerned with what type of energy you are using and more important, what is the source of it? There is a lot of environmental policies that are being formulated now, using or abusing this principle of not using energy sources from the Middle East.

[M011-16] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:21:52 · ADSW · 2020-01-14 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

I cannot leave here without using the platform. I can speak on behalf of us, because we are two brotherly countries; we have the same agenda, the same hope, the same aspiration and I think the same energy and environmental agenda, because we really see eye to eye with each other in what we do. We are here up ready, Saudi Arabia last year reduced its emission by 2.8%. We ranked number 4 within the G20 of reduction of emissions. If that is not a way to demonstrate our commitment to reduction of emissions, I do not know what else we can do. More important, because we are the host of the G20 this year, here we are, we are forwarding that concept of circular carbon economy.

[M011-17] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:22:51 · ADSW · 2020-01-14 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

The best and the brightest of scientists that are fully informed of this concept are working with us. We are advancing it and we are pushing it on the G20 and we are receiving a good audience. I can talk about Saudi Arabia and with passion I can talk about the UAE, we have a story to tell, we have a ritual to put and we are willing to be proactively engaged with serious discussions, but objective discussion, not emotional discussions.