Saudi Oil Giant Understates Carbon Footprint by Up to 50%
The world's biggest oil company has been excluding most refineries and chemical plants from its carbon disclosures to investors
Saudi Aramco's Ras Tanura oil refinery and terminal. Many refineries operated by the world’s biggest oil company have been excluded from its disclosure of greenhouse emissions.
Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
Before it launched the world’s biggest public listing, Saudi Arabian Oil Co. promised potential investors a small piece of a trillion-dollar company with access to unrivaled oil reserves. Not just in sheer volume but in climate friendliness, too.
Aramco executives emphasized in the run-up to an IPO in 2019 that drilling Saudi oil generates fewer planet-warming emissions than other producers. “Not because our crude is cleaner than other crudes globally. It’s because of our standards,” Chief Executive Officer Amin Nasser said at a roadshow, pledging to do even more to deliver lower-carbon oil. “Even though our numbers are great, climate change is critical for the world.”