Rising gas demand in UAE widens supply mismatch

Abu Dhabi: The current natural gas demand-supply gap in the UAE is 1.5 billion cubic feet per day with expensive liquid fuels making up for the shortfall, Khalid Malallah Al Awadi, gas operations manager at the Emirates General Petro-leum Corp (Emarat) said on Tuesday.

"The annual growth in gas consumption for power ranges between 10 per cent and 13 per cent. While the current supply is four billion cubic feet per day, the demand is 5.5 billion and this doesn't even include liquefied natural gas (LNG) and gas used for re-injections for crude production enhancement," Al Awadi said on the sidelines of an energy conference.

"We need new gas supplies. The alternatives for gas are nuclear power in the long-term and further sourcing of gas from Qatar and Abu Dhabi," Al Awadi added. Iran should also be tapped for supplies, he said.

He said power stations in the northern emirates need to be upgraded from open cycle to combined cycle to increase power generation for using the same amount of gas which will raise power generation by about 25 per cent.

Al Awadi stressed the need for an integrated gas pipeline network in the UAE. "This will ensure security of supplies and play a role in transit compression for major gas suppliers in the Gulf," he added.