Dr Gavin Graham, Shell Exploration & Production's vice-president for New Business – Middle East, Caspian and South Asia, said mitigating climate change was a key feature of the company's CSR policy, focusing on technology and education.

"Shell is deploying its capabilities and technologies in partnership with emerging players in the region, such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mubadala and Al Masdar [see related story] to investigate harnessing of carbon dioxide to mitigate the effect of greenhouse gas emissions on climate change," Dr Graham said.

He said the company expected that further development of CCS (carbon capture and storage) technology could also result in further extraction of oil from reserves previously considered depleted.

"Shell is working to achieve Enhanced Oil Recovery through a process whereby CO2 from industrial sources is captured, compressed and then injected into depleted oil fields.

"This process could increase the ultimate recovery of oil by more than 10 percent, thus enhancing the potential for additional oil recovery and yielding fuel that could be equivalent to several years of current global oil demand," Graham said.

Shell also said education would remain an important part of its CSR policy in the Middle East, where youth unemployment is estimated to be as high as 26%.