I attended a part of the World Future Energy Summit (WFES) 2015 (Abu Dhabi, UAE) in particular a workshops organised by IEA, Masdar and UN ESCWA. I first attended WFES several years ago and it’s fair to say it was a big event then and it’s even bigger now. The conference forms a part of the event and the exhibition the major attraction. As far as the conference is concerned, when I first attended there was a session on CCS, now there were no sessions at all. Although I must note the Maria van Der Hoeeven did mention CCS in her presentation. The real focus of the conference was on renewables; in particular solar and financing of renewables projects.

The workshop I attended was CCS related in that it was focused on CO2-EOR at least, whether there were any other CCS workshops on the margins I do not know.
The exhibition is split into halves one on water, probably the most expensive commodity in the region and one yes that predominately covers solar power. There were exhibitors from all over the globe, with whole pavilions devoted to Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Swiss companies amongst many others. You got the impression the exhibition was a hub of sales activities for companies selling water purification, solar panels, smart meters and grid technology.

However in circumnavigating the exhibition hall, I did find several companies promoting CCS, well actually their CO2-EOR capabilities in particular; Shell, Exxon Mobil and Oxycidental as well as Statoil who were focusing on CCS. So all was not lost on CCS.

Of course the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) were promoting their two CO2-EOR projects on their stand, with numerous presentations each day.

So it seems that the oil companies see a potential opportunity for CCS, actually CO2-EOR in the Gulf Region and Gulf States are developing CCS projects. However as far at this conference and exhibition were concerned the focus in that region of the world is largely on renewables and water.