meed-logo

line1 line2 line3
SIGN IN / REGISTER

Gas takes centre stage in Adnoc downstream expansion

13 April 2023

This package on the UAE’s downstream sector also includes:

> Fertiglobe to pay $700m in second-half 2022 dividend

> Borouge signs East Africa distribution agreement

> Adnoc receives bids for key Estidama project packages

> Adnoc to study ammonia value chain in German state

> Adnoc Gas receives bids for ethane recovery project

> Adnoc committed to supplying hydrogen says executive

Regional energy producers are racing to increase their gas production and supply potential as natural gas as a clean energy source becomes more important in the global energy mix.

By merging its gas processing and liquefied natural gas (LNG) businesses this year, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) has made considerable strides in this race.

Adnoc Gas, the new, combined entity that began operating on 1 January, has a processing capacity of about 10 billion cubic feet a day (cf/d) of gas across eight onshore and offshore sites and a pipeline network of over 3,250 kilometres.

This makes the company, now listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, one of the largest gas processing firms in the world.

The strategic move to consolidate its gas processing business underscores Adnoc’s ambition to propel the growth of its overall downstream portfolio, including petrochemicals, with the help of gas.

Adnoc Gas is already overseeing progress on vital downstream projects inherited from the erstwhile Adnoc Group subsidiaries Adnoc Gas Processing and Adnoc LNG.

Sales gas pipeline network

The Estidama project, crucial to enhancing Adnoc’s sales gas pipeline network across the UAE, is progressing under Adnoc Gas’ management.

The project is part of Adnoc Group’s 2030 mandate to ensure a sustainable natural gas supply to its key customers in the country. It aims to cater to increasing demand for gas from industrial consumers across the UAE, particularly in the Northern Emirates.

Contractors recently submitted bids for two key engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) packages of the Estidama project – commercial bids for package two and technical bids for combined package numbers four and seven.

The scope of work on Estidama package two broadly involves building a new facility at the KP-30 location of the Habshan gas compressor plant (HGCP) in Abu Dhabi and installing three variable frequency drive motor-driven compressors.

The combined package involves laying a new pipeline from the Al-Shuwaib pig launcher and pig receiver station to the Sajaa gas facility in Sharjah. The scope also covers building a new gas pipeline between BVS-2/KP28.7 in Abu Dhabi to Dubai’s Margham gas facility to meet increased gas demand from Adnoc Gas Processing’s customer Dubai Supply Authority (Dusup).

The EPC work on the estimated $2bn Estidama project has been divided into seven packages.

Abu Dhabi-based contractor Integrated Specialised General Contracting Company (Iscco) won package one, understood to have a contract value of $18m, in December 2021.

In January this year, MEED named frontrunners to win packages three and six.

Package five is expected to be tendered separately to contractors as part of a planned second phase of the sales gas pipeline upgrade project.

As per the original project schedule, EPC works on the Estidama project are due to be completed in 2025.

Ramping up ethane output

Adnoc Gas is in charge of one of the world’s largest gas processing complexes in Abu Dhabi, with the capacity to process about 8 billion cf/d from its Asab, Bab, Bu Hasa, Habshan and Ruwais plants.

Increased volumes of ethane production will allow the company to commercialise it to supply feedstock to Borouge for its under-construction Borouge 4 petrochemicals complex, as well as to derivatives plants in the upcoming Taziz complex. Adnoc Gas intends to achieve this through the Maximise Ethane Recovery & Monetisation (Meram) project.

Adnoc Gas is understood to have issued the main tender for Meram in February, with the scope of work comprising the detailed engineering aspect of the project. Contractors submitted technical bids for the tender in early March.

Taziz chemicals complex

Meanwhile, investors in the Taziz petrochemicals derivatives-producing industrial complex in Ruwais are pushing ahead with their projects.

Taziz – a 60:40 joint venture (JV) of Adnoc and Abu Dhabi’s industrial holding company ADQ – is overseeing the development of the sprawling industrial complex, which will mainly draw ethylene feedstock from the Borouge 4 facility to produce several in-demand chemicals.

A JV of UAE-based Fertiglobe, South Korea’s GS Energy and Japanese investment firm Mitsui has officially awarded Italian contractor Tecnimont the main EPC contract for its planned blue ammonia project in the Taziz Industrial Chemicals Zone.

The JV has appointed KBR to provide the technology licence, basic engineering design, proprietary equipment and catalyst for the low-carbon ammonia plant, which will have a capacity of 1 million tonnes a year (t/y).

India’s Reliance Industries is also an investor in the Taziz complex, having forged a partnership with Taziz and Abu Dhabi-based Shaheen Chem Holdings Investment (Shaheen) to invest $2bn in developing three chemical plants producing chlor-alkali (940,000 t/y), ethylene dichloride (1.1 million t/y) and polyvinyl chloride (360,000 t/y).

Switzerland-based Proman, meanwhile, has committed to building the UAE’s first methanol plant at Taziz, with a planned production capacity of 1.8 million t/y.

As projects in the first phase of the chemicals complex move forward, Taziz is also understood to be gearing up for a second phase to more than double the number of chemicals produced at the derivatives hub.

This month’s special report on the UAE also includes: 

> UPSTREAM: Strategic Adnoc projects register notable progress

> POWER: UAE power sector shapes up ahead of Cop28

> WATER: UAE begins massive reverse osmosis buildup

> BANKING: UAE lenders chart a route to growth

https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/10748976/main1250.png
Indrajit Sen

Register for MEED's guest program now to access this article.

Click here to register
Exclusive from Meed
Related Articles
  • Qatar seeks to establish new industrial area in Mesaieed

    16 July 2026

    Qatar’s Ministry of Commerce & Industry and state enterprise QatarEnergy have signed an agreement to cooperate on evaluating and allocating hydrocarbon-derived resources to support the establishment of a new medium industries area in Mesaieed Industrial City.

    Under the terms of reference signed between the parties, QatarEnergy will implement a governance mechanism for the allocation of hydrocarbon-derived feedstock to qualifying industrial investment opportunities for the proposed new medium industries area in Mesaieed Industrial City.

    “The agreed terms of reference stipulate the evaluation and allocation of hydrocarbon-derived resources, natural gas, power and related natural resources to downstream derivative industrial investment opportunities,” QatarEnergy said in a statement.

    “It will also ensure the optimal use of national resources and enhance the added value of the industrial sector by establishing a joint governance framework to evaluate and allocate resources required by qualified industrial investment opportunities,” it added.

    QatarEnergy currently operates crude oil refining facilities, including natural gas liquids units, as well as petrochemical production complexes and other units in the hydrocarbon value chain, in Mesaieed Industrial City, situated around 45 kilometres south of Doha.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17688383/main.jpg
    Indrajit Sen
  • Bahri signs deal for two offshore vessels with Dubai shipyard

    16 July 2026

    Bahri Logistics, a division of Saudi Arabia’s national shipping company Bahri, has placed an order for the construction of two advanced offshore support vessels with Dubai-based Grandweld Shipyard.

    Grandweld will custom-build the two vessels to meet Bahri’s operational requirements for offshore activities at Ras Tanura port in Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s busiest oil and gas bunkering and export hubs.

    The vessels will be built at Grandweld’s shipyard in Dubai Maritime City and are expected to be delivered in August, following a 12-month building period.

    The vessels will feature the latest navigation and safety technologies. They are designed to perform multiple offshore support functions, including vessel clearance, crew changes and emergency response, while adhering to international maritime standards.

    The newbuild agreement with Grandweld aligns with Bahri’s broader strategy “to modernise its fleet, enhance technical capabilities, and adopt more energy-efficient and environmentally responsible designs”.

    “Through continued investments in technology, infrastructure and fleet diversification, Bahri Logistics aims to deliver smarter, more sustainable logistics solutions that contribute to the Saudi Green Initiative and the kingdom’s long-term economic diversification goals,” the Saudi Stock Exchange-listed (Tadawul) company said in a statement.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17687877/main.jpg
    Indrajit Sen
  • Egypt intensifies efforts to create petroleum stockpile

    16 July 2026

    Egypt is intensifying its efforts to secure and maintain a sufficient strategic stockpile of petroleum products, according to a statement from the country’s cabinet and its Ministry of Petroleum & Mineral Resources.

    The Egyptian government is closely monitoring regional developments and their potential repercussions on the energy sector, according to the statement.

    Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said that the government is implementing flexible plans and looking at alternative scenarios so that it can respond quickly to emergencies while ensuring the uninterrupted supply of fuel to citizens and key industrial sectors.

    Egypt is intensifying its efforts to build up strategic stockpiles amid heightened uncertainty about future global oil and gas supplies.

    Since the US and Israel attacked Iran on 28 February, there has been significant disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which is a key transit route for oil and gas exports from the Middle East.

    On top of this, the regional war has involved multiple direct attacks on refineries in the GCC, increasing uncertainty about the future availability of refined products.

    Aside from Motafa Madbouly, the meeting was also attended by Hassan Abdullah, who is governor of the Central Bank, Minister of Finance Ahmed Koguk and Minister of Petroleum and Minerals Karim Badawi.

    During the meeting, Badawi gave a presentation on the available quantities of different petroleum products and explained the details of the procedures currently being implemented to increase the strategic stock of petroleum products.

    A review of the coordination framework and joint work between the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank also took place during the meeting.

    This was in order to ensure the management of financial tools needed to strengthen the country’s strategic inventory, according to the statement.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17685719/main.jpg
    Wil Crisp
  • Tunisia orders $86m of trainsets from Chinese supplier

    16 July 2026

    Tunisian public transport operator Transtu has finalised an $86m agreement with China’s CRRC Nanjing Puzhen.

    CRRC will supply 18 new electric trainsets for the capital’s northern suburban rail network, which links Tunis to La Goulette and La Marsa.

    Each new trainset will be air-conditioned and capable of carrying up to 400 passengers, including 90 seated riders, with a top speed of 100 km/h. Once operational, the trains are expected to run at six-minute intervals during rush hour and every 12 minutes during off-peak hours.

    The deal forms part of a broader fleet renewal effort by Transtu, which has struggled in recent years with operational setbacks that have taken a toll on the quality of public transport across Greater Tunis.

    The acquisition is designed to boost capacity on the heavily used line as ridership continues to grow, while also enhancing safety standards and overall service quality.

    Funding for the project comes jointly from the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development and the European Investment Bank.

    Beyond the trainsets, the contract includes five years of maintenance coverage, a supply of spare parts and maintenance equipment, and an underfloor wheel lathe aimed at improving long-term fleet reliability.

    This latest investment fits into Tunisia’s larger railway modernisation strategy, under which the government plans to invest $12bn by 2040 to expand and upgrade the country’s rail infrastructure.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17683957/main.jpg
    Yasir Iqbal
  • PIF developer tenders 365-metre Mecca residential tower

    16 July 2026

     

    Rua Al-Haram Al-Makki has tendered the main construction package for the Ajyad residential tower, a 365-metre high-rise development in Mecca’s central area, close to the grand mosque.

    The bid submission deadline is 30 September. 

    Rua Al-Haram Al-Makki Company was established in October 2017 and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

    The project team includes US-based Marriott International as residential operator, Hanmi Global Saudi as project management consultant, Saudi Diyar Consultants as construction supervision consultant, and PLP Architecture as lead design consultant and construction-stage design guardian.

    The tower rises 84 floors with four basement levels. It comprises a total of 212 units, including 82 three-bedroom apartments, 85 four-bedroom units, 29 penthouses and 16 duplex villas.

    The scheme has a gross floor area of 209,231 square metres (sq m) and a built-up area of 242,976 sq m.

    The site is currently being cleared by a demolition contractor, with the existing mat foundation and retaining walls to be handed over to the main contractor, who will build the new superstructure on the retained raft.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17683664/main.jpg
    Yasir Iqbal