Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman stressed the need to strengthen energy security and diversity, and to promote the economies of individual countries and the global economy in general, taking into account concerns related to climate change.
He revealed the Kingdom’s plan to extract more shale gas, which he said would provide additional resources to achieve the reliance of Saudi facilities on gas by 50 percent, while the other part will be concentrated in renewable energy.
The Saudi minister’s remarks came during a conference held on Tuesday, entitled “Energy Paths: Towards a Low-Carbon Future in the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries”. Speakers discussed solutions aimed at de-carbonizing the energy sector, underlining the importance of the Green Saudi Initiative in this regard.
“When it comes to energy, we have to evaluate ourselves according to key performance indicators, such as focusing on energy security because it is very essential, as well as economic prosperity and diversification, along with the prosperity of the economies of individual countries and the global economy in general,” Prince Abdulaziz said.
Scott Strazik, CEO of General Electric Energy, stressed the need for countries to develop their energy sectors to ensure the availability of energy at an affordable cost, with the transition to more sustainable generation systems and lower carbon emissions.
He explained that the de-carbonization of the energy sector in the Gulf countries required strengthening the energy transmission and distribution network systems, and introducing new digital solutions to improve communication capabilities, network monitoring, reliability and flexibility while adding new and diversified sources of power generation.
He explained that achieving this goal requires the use of a variety of power generation technologies, with a special focus on renewable energy technologies and natural gas energy, noting that the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council have abundant capabilities and a distinguished position that pave their way towards achieving global leadership and assume a pivotal role in addressing the issue of Three-axis in the energy sector.
