Dubai: If oil drove the first 50 years of UAE’s growth, natural gas should take on the baton for the next 50.
“Gas will play a pivotal role in this blueprint for growth, as the essential fuel stock for our downstream hub in Ruwais and our industrial joint venture Ta’ziz,” said Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Managing Director and Group CEO of ADNOC, speaking virtually at the opening of the Gastech 2021 conference in Dubai.
The UAE has already done much in the recent past in emphasizing the importance of natural gas. It was the first in the region to stop flaring and find economic uses for gas, and the first to build an LNG (liquefied natural gas) plant. Another first was in the production of ultra-sour gas at an industrial scale, and storing carbon dioxide (CO2) and using it in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) to liberate more gas.
“We turned an environmental liability into a commercial opportunity. For almost fifty years the UAE has viewed gas in all its forms as one big opportunity, and we've built our gas business on a number of firsts.”
The UAE is on track to achieve gas self-sufficiency as ADNOC leverages technologies to expand into unconventional gas, tap into gas caps and unlock new reservoirs, which are part of an integrated gas strategy launched in 2018. “At the heart of this goal, is the expansion of our producing assets - like Shah - and the development of new ones, like the unique Umm Shaif gas cap and the Hail, Ghasha and Dalma project,” Dr. Al Jaber said.
“Construction of artificial islands is underway and we are leveraging our experience in world-class developments to ensure costs are minimized and commercial benefits maximized for all our partners. Together, these projects will deliver over 3 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day, enough to power several million homes.”
Our Founding Father Sheikh Zayed's commitment to the environment and truly sustainable development was the key driver. In 1973, at his direction, ADNOC stopped burning the associated gas from all its operations, and instead captured it and shipped it
