October and November 2023 may be remembered as one of the main turning points in modern Saudi Arabia. Riyadh won the battle to host the luxurious 2030 World Expo after months of plans and introducing projects to overcome two rivals, Italy and South Korea. A few weeks before that, the country’s bid to host the 2034 world Cup games went unrivaled with the other only bidder, Australia, withdrawing due to curious reasons. These are only two among so many other projects under preparation and implementation in Saudi Arabia.
Almost all projects in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are supervised by the rich Public Investment Fund, with assets totaling over $700 billion. The PIF supports billion-dollar sports expenditure and mega-projects like The Line (NEOM) and Trojena aiming at changing the picture of Saudi Arabia from a traditional religious country that suppresses the rights of people to a modern country that has the potential to host investors and millions of people from around the world. The Kingdom has also a grand strategy of shifting the economy from fossil fuels to productive investment platforms which boosts the gross domestic products through infrastructures in sectors like tourism. For now, nevertheless, the Kingdom’s reliance on oil market and other fossil fuels like gas is indisputable.
PIF is injected with infinite sources that oil companies in Saudi Arabia provide through oil extraction and conversion industries. With over $300 billion, Saudi Arabian oil company “Saudi Aramco” announced the highest net revenue in the world in 2022. The next company in the list, Apple, posted less than half net revenue with only $122 billion. The disparity signals one important fact: Riyadh needs to sell oil to proceed with its decade-long plans. Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, the de-facto ruler of the country, is aware of the new zeitgeist in global energy transformations. With the surge of calls to shift from fossil fuels to environment-friendly resources, Saudi Arabia may face a cataclysmic development against its grand plans.
In an initiative originally dubbed as Oil Demand Sustainability Programme (ODSP), the kingdom announced its will to proceed with activities “in the fields of sustaining the demand of oil”, especially in African countries. The official website of the Programme says that it means to “sustain and develop the demand for hydrocarbons as a competitive source of energy, by raising its economic and environmental efficiency, while ensuring that the transition in the energy mix [is] sustainable for the kingdom of Saudi Arabia”. Although the objective was modified later as “activities to increase energy access”, Riyadh means to instigate demand in developing countries, mostly developing nations in Africa, to boost the use of oil and fossil fuels. Saudi officials and documents claim that the Programme means to remove “barriers” in poor countries and increase “sustainability”.
The Saudi Programme has three target categories, mainly focusing on transport and utilities. According to Riyadh officials, the African countries need to pass through the fossil fuel industries to reach green energies in the future. Riyadh’s strategy means to neglect a collective international initiative for African and other developing nations to leapfrog the polluting development. The kingdom is, in effect, hooking the developing nations in Africa and elsewhere, to use its oil products in a world that is anxiously moving towards renewable resources.
In collaboration with car manufacturing companies, Saudi Arabia will supply the developing nations with cheap cars. These cheap combustion engine vehicles may easily instigate a large community of African nations who have always been deprived of enjoying a drive. The present data shows that only 3% of people in African countries own personal cars. “We have also an opportunity for increasing availability and adoption of low-cost cars, especially in emerging markets,” a Saudi official told the agent of a secret investigation by the Centre for Climate Reporting and the British Channel 4 News.
A further measure means to supply the target nations with buses and planes which are ultimately the users of fossil fuels. Launching low-cost airlines is expected to promote the use of flights while expanding supersonic air travel means the use of jet fuel three times more than classic planes. For nations intensely lacking the modern transportation systems and deprived of resources to leapfrog to renewable energies, the Saudi Programme may seem tempting. The reporters who met Saudi officials under the cover of investors divulged that the Saudi officials acknowledged an artificial stimulation of demand in the target nations.
The Saudi Programme also targets materials in a third phase aiming at replacing the traditional construction materials with oil derivatives. The outcome would be the utilization of plastic alloys instead of metals, wood, and other utilitarian products. In the long run, the ODSP might impact all facets of societal life in African countries like communication, development, and life style.
Saudi Arabia has kicked off the project in Africa with multiple agreements and deals already signed. In an agreement with Rwanda, the Kingdom committed to “develop demand for hydrocarbon resources”. In a Separate deal with Ethiopia, the two countries mean to boost ties on the supply of oil while another agreement with Nigeria expands the partnerships in the oil and gas sectors. In a world that moves towards electric cars and renewable energies, providing a nation with gas stoves to replace for wood burning might seem ironic. Saudi tricks might effectively work in a region totally left vacant by other advanced countries during the decades.
Few days before the start of Cop28 climate summit in Dubai, whose main target is to cut down on the use of fossil fuels, revelations about Saudi Arabian Programme may prove disappointing. The winner might Abu Dhabi who have faced allegations regarding abusive conduct as the host of Cop28 to boost its oil and gas deals. Riyadh’s conduct in Africa is analogous to a history of British colonization of poor countries, providing the nations with basic necessities while looting the mineral and natural resources. Next generations in Africa are victimized by the ambitions of the leaders in countries like Saudi Arabia who neglect the collective fate of generations to realize their personal and private dreams.
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