Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company is looking to expand its natural gas business by skipping over the traditional export route and going for a growing market in blue hydrogen, executives said Monday.

Saudi Arabia Oil Co., better known as Aramco, is the largest oil exporter in the world. It also has a plethora of natural gas reserves, CEO Amin H. Nasser noted during a conference call to discuss 2020 results Monday. He shared a microphone with Aramco’s Khalid Al-Dabbagh, senior vice president of Finance Strategy & Development. 

“Our gas is growing at twice the rate of crude globally,” Al-Dabbagh told analysts. Because gas also has a lower carbon footprint, it has become “important strategically…We continue to be interested in international gas,” including...