Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) announced its new Low Carbon Solutions and International Growth vertical will be headed by Musabbeh Al Kaabi effective Jan. 16 to expedite its board-mandated low carbon growth strategy and focus on renewable energy, clean hydrogen and carbon capture and storage (CCS), the company said Dec. 6 in a press release. 

The Low Carbon Solutions and International Growth vertical will focus on the decarbonization of ADNOC’s operations, energy and operations efficiency, methane emissions minimization, improving carbon capture, utilization and sequestration (CCUS) to cut CO₂ emissions and the use of renewable and other zero-carbon energy sources. 

Al Kaabi is the current CEO of the UAE Investments platform at Mubadala Investment Co. PJSC, the Abu Dhabi sovereign investor. He was also the CEO of the Petroleum and Petrochemicals platform from 2017 to 2020 and the CEO of Mubdala Petroleum between 2014 and 2017. He started his career at ADNOC and spent 16 years in several senior roles at the company.

The addition to ADNOC’s low carbon growth strategy adds to the company’s sustainability and energy efficiency initiatives. ADNOC’s upstream methane intensity target is the lowest in the Middle East with an objective of 0.15% by 2025. The company plans to further cut down on methane emissions through flare gas recovery systems and leak detection and repair programs. 

ADNOC plans to continue the success of the region’s first commercial scale CCUS facility to increase its capture capacity of CO₂ by over 500% to approximately 5 million tons per year by 2030 from gas processing plants and other CO₂ emission sources, the company said in the release.

“ADNOC is embarking on a new and exciting period of accelerated growth, with a determined focus on sustainability that will help future-proof our business for decades to come,” said Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE minister of industry and advanced technology and ADNOC managing director and group CEO.

In Jan. 2022, ADNOC was the first hydrocarbon company to source 100% of its grid energy from clean nuclear and solar power. The company is building a $3.6 billion sub-sea transmission network in the MENA region to bring clean energy offshore. It is planned to reduce ADNOC’s offshore greenhouse gas emissions by more than 30% by connecting its offshore operations to the UAE’s electricity grid with nuclear and solar energy to replace gas turbine generators. 

“As the UAE prepares to host COP28 next year, we will continue to focus on practical and positive solutions that drive progress for the climate and the economy,” said Al Jaber.