COMPANIES TEAM UP ON FIRST MIDDLE EAST CCS FIRM

Karen Frantz
GHG Monitor
11/22/13

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and Masdar announced last week that they have signed a joint agreement to create the Middle East’s first company that will focus on developing commercial-scale carbon capture and storage projects, paving the way for its first project, which will capture CO2 emissions from the United Arab Emirates’ largest steelworks complex for use in enhance oil recovery. The companies said that 800,000 tons of CO2 will be sequestered per year, and the project is expected to be finished in 2016.

ADNOC and Masdar awarded a contract worth AED 450 million to Dosdal Group for building a compression facility that will process CO2 captured from Emirates Steel, located in Abu Dhabi, and a 50 km pipeline that will transport the CO2 to the ADNOC-operated oil fields for EOR. The project will not be the companies’ first foray into carbon utilization: The two also piloted a CO2 injection project in 2009.

Their joint venture now represents the first phase of its “industrial-scale CCUS network planned as part of Abu Dhabi’s commitment to decarbonizes its economy and create a low-carbon power generation industry,” according to a release from Emirates Steel. “It will also collaborate with ADNOC`s Petroleum Institute and Masdar`s Institute of Science and Technology in developing leading edge technologies to optimize CO2 management in Abu Dhabi.” “We are proud to be pioneering the use of CCUS technology in the region, a critical strategy to reduce global carbon emissions,” said Masdar CEO H.E. Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber. “We hope this project will serve as a proof of concept and encourage other hydrocarbon-rich nations to adopt similar technologies to reduce their carbon emissions.”