DNV has released its “Oil & Gas Decarbonization in the Gulf Region” report, the second instalment in the company’s Energy Transition Outlook 2026 series on the Middle East. The report positions carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) as a cornerstone of the Gulf’s strategy to reduce emissions from oil, gas and emerging low-carbon industries, while maintaining its role as a leading global energy supplier.
According to DNV, countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are pursuing a dual strategy: expanding hydrocarbon production and exports to meet global demand, while lowering the carbon intensity of those barrels through technology, efficiency gains and large-scale carbon management. More than 98% of all CCUS projects planned or underway in the Middle East and North Africa are concentrated in GCC states, driven largely by national oil companies. Investments are focused on capturing emissions from gas processing, refining, petrochemicals and power generation, as well as enabling low-carbon hydrogen production. This concentration reflects a clear strategic commitment to carbon capture as a tool to decarbonise hydrocarbon operations and support future low-carbon exports.
CCUS is expected to play a decisive role in that transition. Under DNV’s forecast, carbon dioxide capture capacity, including conventional industrial CCUS, bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and direct air capture (DAC), could reach around 250 million tonnes per year by 2060. This would represent approximately 8% of the region’s energy-related and industrial emissions and deliver a significant share of reductions in sectors where direct electrification remains challenging.
DNV also highlights the growing importance of carbon dioxide removal technologies. BECCS and DAC could together contribute about 81 million tonnes per year of removals by 2060, helping offset residual emissions from hard-to-abate sectors and supporting net-zero ambitions across the region.
The report links CCUS development closely with the Gulf’s hydrogen strategy. Beyond decarbonising traditional oil and gas operations, carbon capture is seen as essential for producing low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia, fuels expected to play a major role in future energy systems. In particular, CCUS underpins blue hydrogen production, enabling natural gas based hydrogen to be supplied with lower associated emissions. Combined with expanding renewable capacity for green hydrogen, this approach is intended to strengthen the GCC’s competitiveness in international markets where carbon intensity is increasingly scrutinised.
Policy frameworks are evolving to support this scale-up. Governments across the GCC are introducing regulations and incentives aimed at accelerating industrial decarbonisation and developing carbon transport and storage infrastructure.
DNV concludes that the Gulf’s energy transition will not involve a rapid retreat from oil and gas. Instead, it will focus on lowering the emissions intensity of production through electrification, methane reduction and large-scale carbon capture. In this framework, CCUS is not peripheral but central to the region’s long-term energy and climate strategy.