Saudi Aramco was the sponsor of the recent Clean Fuels for Future High Efficiency Engines Symposium in Beijing, China. Part of the annual Society of Automotive Engineers International Powertrain, Fuels and Lubricants meeting, the symposium focused on peer relations for automotive original equipment manufacturers, trade associations, national laboratories, and automotive solution companies.
The four-day event attracted more than 500 industry professionals from across Asia, Europe, and the Americas, with a total of 245 technical papers presented.
Saudi Aramco’s joint collaborations with several major automakers are designed to demonstrate the internal combustion engine’s (ICE) potential for considerable efficiency improvements and our efforts to accelerate the development of cost-effective, viable technologies that also address the challenge of climate change.
The continuous improvement in ICE efficiency offers clear advantages in regard to greenhouse gas emission reductions while concurrently meeting an ever-increasing global demand for mobility.
In his keynote address, Ahmad O. Al-Khowaiter, Aramco's vice president of Technology Oversight and Coordination, discussed “The Role of Transport in a Rapidly Changing Energy Landscape.”
Al-Khowaiter outlined why a new and innovative approach is required to address the challenges of sustainable future mobility, adding that the energy industry can and should play a more active role in partnering with automakers.
“We need to work with leading minds in this area, and we believe that Chinese players can be at the forefront when it comes to technological advancements,” said Al-Khowaiter said.
During the event, Al-Khowaiter met with a variety of Chinese speaking media outlets, discussing not only transport technology and sustainable energy solutions, but also Saudi Aramco’s strategic intent in Asia.
“Oil will continue to play a key role in the global energy mix, and we are heavily invested in the Asian markets. Some 60% of oil consumption is focused on transportation — the rest is on the production of petrochemicals and other materials,” he said, adding that the petrochemical demand growth rate is greater than that of transportation energy’s demand growth rate.
While the company’s focus is still weighted toward developing crude oil and petrochemicals, the relationship Saudi Aramco has with the transport industry is growing. “We believe policymakers should be technology agnostic,” Al-Khowaiter said. “By developing appropriate standards, they should allow all technologies to compete and allow the most efficient ones to prevail.”
Saudi Aramco believes that the current technologies it is developing strategically across three continents will not only offer realistic solutions to reducing transport carbon footprints, but also provide economical and performance guaranteed engines for the future.
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