Business | Oil & Gas
Abu Dhabi will raise daily gas output to 10b cubic feet
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) will announce the final $10 billion contract for the treatment of sour gas at the Shah field within a month or two, officials said on Tuesday.
- By Ahmed A. Elewa, Senior Reporter
- Published: 00:03 June 11, 2008
Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) will announce the final $10 billion contract for the treatment of sour gas at the Shah field within a month or two, officials said on Tuesday.
The energy thirsty emirate is seeking to secure sufficient supplies of natural gas to sustain the economic diversification programme, which is based upon clusters of heavy industries including aluminium, steel, petrochemicals and copper.
Abu Dhabi's natural gas reserves are estimated at 200 trillion cubic feet, the world's fifth largest, and its daily production stands at about 5 billion cubic feet (bcf) per day.
With the expansion plans, including Dolphin Energy's pipeline, the emirate is seeking to lift that figure to more than 10 bcf per day.
"With the advances in technology together with the increasing international energy prices it has become more feasible to treat Abu Dhabi's sour gas reserves," Abdullah Saeed Al Darmaki, Abu Dhabi Basic Industries Company's (Adbic) vice-president for petrochemicals, said, referring to the high content of hydrogen sulfite in the emirate's gas reserves.
Additional supplies
"The government is working on the matter with the relevant companies, and within the coming two years the additional supplies will be there," he added.
Several companies have been bidding for the project which opens the door to foreign investments in gas production for the first time with two onshore fields scheduled for development, namely Shah and Bab.
"It seems that Conoco-Philips has become the preferred partner for Adnoc to award the contract for the development and treatment of the gas reserves at Shah field worth $10 billion," Raja Kiwan, senior analyst at PSC Energy, told Gulf News.
Production at the Shah field is expected to be about 1 bcf per day by 2011, while the development of the Bab field will take place at a later stage because it seems more complex due to the higher sulpher content.
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