Aramco launches Saudi Arabia’s first direct air capture pilot

DHAHRAN, March 24, 2025 – Saudi Aramco has launched Saudi Arabia’s first carbon dioxide direct air capture (DAC) test unit, the company announced on Thursday.

The pilot plant has been developed in collaboration with Siemens Energy and is designed to remove up to 12 tonnes per year (tpy) of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Aramco intends to use the facility to test carbon capture materials and develop capture methods that can lower operational costs and accelerate the deployment of DAC in the region.

“Technologies that directly capture carbon dioxide from the air will likely play an important role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions moving forward, particularly in hard-to-abate sectors. The test facility launched by Aramco is a key step in our efforts to scale up viable DAC systems, for deployment in Saudi Arabia and beyond,” said Ali A. Al Meshari, Aramco’s senior vice-president of Technology Oversight and Coordination.

Aramco has been exploring options to capture carbon dioxide at emissions sources and directly from the atmosphere. In December 2024, the company signed an agreement with SLB and Linde to develop a CCS hub in Jubal that is expected to capture 9 million tpy of carbon dioxide from three Aramco gas plants, and in March 2025, it joined a funding round to back modular DAC technology developed by German firm Ucaneo.

Illustrative photo courtesy of Aramco

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