(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Abu Dhabi's Shah Sour Gas project went into commissioning this week, with the production of 100 million standard cubic feet a day, which will eventually reach 600 million standard cubic feet this year, said Abdullah Nasir Al Suwaidi, director general of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc).
Abu Dhabi is "on course" to maximise its use of gas and oil reserves, he said in his keynote speech at the launch of Oil and Gas Year Book 2015.
The $10 billion gas project, being managed by Al Hosn Gas Company, is part of Abu Dhabi's plans to expand its hydrocarbon infrastructure which will increase the oil output to 3.5 million barrels a day in 2017 from 2.9 million barrels per day now. The Ruwais refinery project will refine 4,17,000 barrels per day.
The UAE's Minister for Energy Suhail bin Mohammed Faraj Faris Al Mazrouei said the Shah scheme is one of the world's largest-scale sour gas projects. "This will unlock the possibilities of similar developments in Abu Dhabi and the region," he said.
"To extract, treat and process sour gas, we have harnessed technoogies and materials that for years have been unavailble to us and we believe it will open the horizon for further development in the region," he added.
With this project, the minister said the UAE will be responsible for almost five per cent of global sulphur production. "We have begun developing an integrated sulphur processing and export network, including the new sulphur train from the field to the terminal," Al Mazrouei said. This development will be complemented in the near future by the Bab Sour Gas plant.
Al Mazrouei expects a significant shift in the supply dynamic for gas in the UAE within the next 10 years. "We are also preparing for an increase in our LNG import capacity. The Emirates LNG storage and regasification terminal in Fujairah is expected to add nine million tonnes of LNG import capacity before 2020," he said.
The Dolphin Gas pipeline expansion is expected to reach its full import capacity of 3.2 billion cubic feet with the addition of two gas compressors in Qatar. Increasing and diversifying the source and volume of gas will enhance UAE's growth and allow more flexibility and security of supply.
Manufacturing, metals and petrochemicals are the three sectors that can be expanded further with greater volumes of feedstock gas available.
On oil prices, Adnoc's Al Suwaidi said the global crude oil market has been witnessing interesting developments with prices of crude declining below the $60 level for the first time since their peak levels in 2008. Adnoc has always been up to such market challenges with the most compatible strategies, he said. Despite such challenging market trends, Adnoc remains on course in the maximum utilisation of Abu Dhabi's natural resources and hydrocarbons.
In the past year, Adnoc and Masdar set up a joint venture to focus on the exploration of commercial scale projects for carbon capture, usage and storge, he added. The number of Adnoc group companies rose to 19, with the establishment of Al Dhafra Petroleum and Al Yahsat Petroleum which will develop new onshore and offshore fields for crude oil and gas production.
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