The 41st JCCP International SymposiumEng. Mishaal Al-Thukair
General Manager – Refined Products and Distribution
Oil & Gas Sector
Ministry of Energy
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia“Strategies and Initiatives for Oil and Gas in Times of Global
Economic Upheavals – Stable Supply and GreenTransformation”

January 26, 2023, Tokyo

Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great honor and pleasure to be here today to discuss this important topic with you --- thank you for theinvitation, and it is always delightful to visit your great and hospitable country.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia cherishes the very strong and long-lasting relations between our countries,
which started back in 1955. Since then, the Kingdom has always considered Japan as a strategic partner,that resulted in forming Saudi-Japan Vision 2030 in 2016 by our leaders.
The Minister of Energy of Saudi Arabia, HRH Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, hosted the Japanese Minister ofEconomy, Trade and Industry, HE Mr. Yasutoshi Nishimura, in Riyadh to discuss ways to further enhancecollaboration between the two countries and achieve their ambitious visions.
During the visit, a number of memorandums of cooperation were signed in the fields of circular carbon
economy, carbon recycling, clean hydrogen and ammonia.
Under those agreements, the two countries agreed to strengthen areas of collaboration, such as
decarbonization technologies, accelerating the use of hydrogen in transportation, promoting research anddevelopment of hydrogen & ammonia fuel technologies, and supply chains through localization strategies
that draw on respective comparative strengths and their uses on a local, regional and international levels.
Moving towards the theme of this event, we are all aware that the oil market is going through various changes
and is affected by many developments, such as global economic fluctuations; changing fuel economy
regulations and technologies; increasingly competitive forms of alternative and renewable energy; electricvehicle penetration, and much more.
However, the long-term energy outlook confirms the need for all forms of energy to fuel the future global
demand, which will give us much more responsibility to deliver the needed energy to the globe.
Oil will always be an integral part of modern life, not only as an energy source, but also in terms of the things
it is used to make, such as expanded uses in the fields of petrochemicals and specialty products.
And while technologies are being invented to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, technology is also
developing towards making fossil fuels more environmentally friendly, and all is needed to ensure meeting
future demands for global growth and development.
In this regard, I would like to add that we continue to stand committed to ensuring that global energy needs
are met, and that the global oil market is balanced to ensure the long-term stability and reliability of global
energy supplies to the world.
Having said that, it is important to state that dealing with the global energy landscape changes requires new
strategies and plans both at the governmental and private sector levels, which leads me to the next part ofmy speech.

Saudi Arabia is progressing actively in alignment with 2030 vision’s aspirations. A vision that serves as acatalyst by spearheading the country towards meeting both its economic diversification and revitalization
goals.
In order to enhance our efforts to meet the aspirations of both our visions, and in a true example ofpartnership and trust, the Saudi-Japan joint vision 2030 group was formed. It has since held six ministerial
meetings, the last of which took place in Tokyo in November 2022.
As we progress through the various initiatives of our vision, we will witness significant leaps in the fields ofenergy, and petrochemicals, all while maintaining the highest standards in terms of environmental
stewardship…
In the Oil and Gas Sectors:•And as part of our commitment to the global energy security, we are increasing the Kingdom’s
Oil Maximum Sustainable Capacity from 12 to 13.3 Million Barrels Per Day by 2027. We are also
increasing our gas production by about the double to reach 18.5 billion cubic feet per day, mainly
through the development of the Jafurah unconventional gas field which has 200 trillion cubicfeet of rich raw gas resources.

•And we are expanding the Kingdom’s Master Gas System Supply Network by adding 4,000 km of
new pipelines. This expansion will enable us to reach six additional cities and regions in theKingdom, to support industrial clusters and meet our increasing local demand.

As for the Petrochemical Sector:•Saudi Arabia is currently the 4th largest producer of petrochemicals globally, with about 38
Million Tons per year of basic chemicals, which is around 5.4% of global production, with worldclass infrastructure in the eastern and western hubs of Saudi Arabia.

•And we have plans for utilizing emerging technologies (such as Crude Oil to Chemicals, andThermal Crude to Chemicals) to produce higher yields of petrochemical products from crude oil,increase diversification and conversion of base chemicals & intermediates into downstream andspecialty chemicals.

•In fact, HRH the Minister of Energy of Saudi Arabia announced in Nov 2022, the plan of building
a 400 Thousand Barrels Per day Crude Oil to Chemicals Plant in Ras Al-Khair in eastern Saudi
Arabia, producing around 9 million tons of chemicals and base oils annually.

•In addition to the recent announcement of the $7 billion Shaheen project in S-Oil, which aims toconvert crude oil into petrochemical feedstock and would represent the first commercializationof Aramco and Lummus Technology’s TC2C thermal crude to chemicals technology, whichincreases chemical yield and reduces operating costs, the new plant is planned to have thecapacity to produce up to 3.2 million tons of petrochemicals annually and include a facility toproduce high-value polymers... And we have plans for much more.

•We aim to be the 3rd largest producer of petrochemicals globally, with a production of about 70
Million Tons per Year of basic chemicals. In addition, we are working on growing our downstream
chemicals sector by 4-5 times, with over 70 downstream chemicals planned to be localized inthe Kingdom, and about 15 specialty chemicals segments targets as focus areas.

•We believe that there are many Japanese companies that the Kingdom can collaborate with inthese areas, such as Toray, JSR, Mitsubishi chemicals in synthetic rubber, carbon fiber, acrylics
and many other opportunities.

•Collaboration with Adeka in plastic additives, DIC CORP in adhesive and coating, and Mitsui insurfactants are examples of potential partnerships with the Japanese companies in specialty
chemicals.

•And of course, these are only examples of future partners in this field, and we are sure that there
are many more Japanese companies in these fields, and we look forward to exploring thepotential partnership opportunities with all of them.

•As we proceed to grow, develop and diversify, environmental stewardship is a key pillar in ourstrategies. The Kingdom aims to reduce its carbon emissions by 278 million tons per year by
2030, with the adoption of the Circular Carbon Economy (CCE)- based on zero waste, which will
help reach our Net-Zero target by 2060.

•With regards to carbon, the Kingdom sees immense value in the development of Carbon
Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS). Every day, we have the capability to capture and process
over 2500 Tons of CO2 at our plant in Hawiyah. The captured CO2 is piped 85 kilometers andpumped into the Uthmaniyah oil reservoir, sequestering the gas while also helping to maintainpressure in the reservoir and recover more oil. Since the initial injection of CO2 in 2015, we havedoubled oil production rates from four of our wells.

•In addition, The Saudi carbon capture center, at the port city of Jubail, will potentially be able tostore up to 9 million tons of carbon dioxide a year by 2027. That's equivalent to the emissions
from about 2 million gasoline-powered passenger vehicles driven over a year.

•This facility has a goal of making a significant contribution to the 44 million tons per year thekingdom plans to capture by 2035.

•In this regard, it is important to draw your attention to two key initiatives we are working on: theSaudi Green Initiative (SGI) & Middle East Green Initiative (MGI), which aim to reduce 278 million
tons of CO2/year by 2030. Saudi Arabia also joined the Global Methane Pledge to reduce global
methane emissions by 30%•We are also optimizing the Kingdom’s energy mix, aiming to produce 50% of Saudi Arabia’selectricity through renewables by 2030. So far, we have commissioned 700MW of wind and solar
plants in the Kingdom. In addition, 8 solar power plants have already have their Power Purchaseagreements signed, with a total capacity of 5.8 GW, and in addition, 13 wind and solar plants are
in different development stages, with a total power generation capacity of 8.5 GW.

•We are also spearheading future energy alternatives, by developing our capacity to produce 4
million tons per year of hydrogen to be the world’s leading producer and exporter of cleanhydrogen. This direction was demonstrated by Aramco’s first Blue Ammonia shipment to Japanin September of last year.
o In this regard, Saudi Arabia is well positioned to be a global leader in hydrogen, where it
can produce large volumes of low-cost clean H2 across the Kingdom, such as theannounced clean hydrogen plant in NEOM.
o Furthermore, Saudi Arabia enjoys several advantages that make it an ideal hydrogen
exporter, such as▪ low cost of production due to ample solar and wind resources▪ Availability of low-cost natural gas▪ Existing infrastructure to globally export hydrogen

In the end, I would like to note that JCCP has been, and will always be, a strong partner that Saudi Arabia cancount on, especially in the areas of human resources development & training, knowledge sharing and building
important networks. Together, we want to enhance the determination of both our countries to fully realize
our joint ambitions.
To our friends and partners in Japan, I thank you all for giving me the opportunity to address this esteemed
audience, and I am looking forward to the success of both of our great visions..
THANK YOU