The Saudi oil tycoon Aramco announced the launch of a pilot direct air capture plant that can extract 12 tons of carbon dioxide annually from the environment.

According to Aramco, the facility, which was created in collaboration with Siemens Energy, is the first carbon dioxide direct air capture (DAC) unit in Saudi Arabia and will be used to test CO2 capture materials.

The technology is costly and has not been tested on a large scale, according to those who oppose CO2 emission capture.

“The test facility launched by Aramco is a key step in our efforts to scale up viable DAC systems, for deployment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and beyond,” Ali A. Al-Meshari, Aramco senior vice president of technology oversight and coordination, said in Aramco’s statement.

“In addition to helping address emissions, the CO2 extracted through this process can in turn be used to produce more sustainable chemicals and fuels.”

By 2050, Aramco, the largest oil exporter in the world, wants to cut its so-called Scope 1 and 2 emissions to zero.In October 2023, Aramco announced the pilot DAC unit with Siemens Energy, stating that it would be finished in 2024 and that it would provide a foundation for a larger pilot plant that would be able to absorb 1,250 tons of CO2 annually.

In order to construct a carbon capture and storage project in Jubail, Saudi Arabia, the national oil giant inked a deal with oil services companies SLB and Linde in December.  Up to 9 million tons of CO2 will be captured and stored annually during the first phase, which is anticipated to be finished by the end of 2027.

In addition to participating in a $80 million funding round for Los Angeles-based CarbonCapture last year, Aramco has inked a number of additional partnerships to investigate the development of carbon capture.