Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) announced several contracts worth billions of dollars to accelerate gas projects, decarbonisation of its operations and enhance local value addition during ADIPEC 2023.

Local manufacturing contracts

ADNOC announced new agreements with 30 companies for local manufacturing of critical non-oil products in its supply chain as it advances the decarbonisation efforts. 

The new agreements outline the company’s intention to locally manufacture products potentially worth up to 10 billion UAE dirhams ($2.7 billion) in ADNOC’s supply chain.

The agreements support the national oil company’s target to locally manufacture AED70 billion worth of products in its procurement pipeline by 2027 as part of the ‘Make it in the Emirates’ initiative.

Hail and Ghasha EPCs

ADNOC announced the Final Investment Decision (FID) for the Hail and Ghasha offshore development project and awarded contracts worth nearly $17 billion.

The project aims to operate with net zero carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, reinforcing ADNOC’s net zero by 2045 ambition and accelerated decarbonisation plan. 

An Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contract worth $8.2 billion for offshore facilities was awarded to a joint venture between National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC) and Italian energy contractor Saipem.

The second EPC contract worth $8.74 billion for onshore projects, including carbon dioxide and sulphur recovery, was given to another Tecnimont, part of Italian technology and engineering group MAIRE.

Baker Hughes deal

ADNOC awarded a contract of more than AED1.47 billion ($400 million) to Baker Hughes to supply all-electric compression systems for the liquefaction of a natural gas project in Al Ruwais Industrial City.

The LNG trains will comprise energy-efficient Baker Hughes technology, including compressors driven by 75 MW electric motors.

The Ruwais LNG plant will be the first LNG project in the Middle East and North Africa region to run on clean power, making it one of the lowest carbon-intensity LNG facilities in the world.

Deploying UAVs

ADNOC partnered with EDGE Group, an advanced technology group, to deploy UAE-made unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) across its onshore and offshore operations.

EDGE’s autonomous systems arm, ADASI, will repurpose its existing UAVs for ADNOC to deploy in its operations to minimise emissions and enhance environmental performance, monitor operations, and provide support in emergency response situations

Repurposed EV batteries

ADNOC will trial using repurposed electric vehicle (EV) batteries to decarbonise its remote production operations and reduce costs.

The pilot, run in partnership with German startup Power I.D., will see EV batteries deployed that would have otherwise been disposed of and assembled into a large-scale battery energy storage system.

The system, which will be built in the UAE, can hold up to 2 megawatts (MW) of power within a single 20-foot storage container. Each container will be mobile, allowing for deployment to remote sites.

The system is estimated to cut the carbon emissions of remote drilling rigs by up to 25 percent and reduce their energy expenditure by 50 percent.

SAF certification

ADNOC said its Ruwais Refinery has received International Sustainability Carbon Certification (ISCC) for producing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

The certification enables ADNOC to supply its SAF to international airlines at Abu Dhabi Airport.

SAF is produced from used cooking oil feedstock blended with jet fuel at ADNOC’s Ruwais Refinery.

The first batch, enough to fuel a return 787-10 Dreamliner flight from Abu Dhabi to Paris, will be available later this month.

Building DAC facility

ADNOC and Occidental announced an agreement to undertake a joint preliminary engineering study to construct the first megaton-scale direct air capture (DAC) facility outside the US.

The agreement is the first project to reach the technical feasibility stage since the two companies signed a strategic collaboration agreement in 2023 to explore carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) projects in the UAE and the US.

The study will assess the proposed one million tonnes per annum (mtpa) DAC facility to be connected to ADNOC’s CO2 infrastructure for injection and permanent storage into saline reservoirs not used for oil and gas production.

ADNOC is in the testing phase of the world’s first full sequestered CO2 injection well in a carbonate saline aquifer in Abu Dhabi.

Carbon capture pilot

ADNOC and Fertiglobe, its JV between with OCI Global, announced the pilot deployment of the world’s first cost-effective modular CycloneCC carbon capture unit at the latter’s nitrogen fertiliser plant in the Al Ruwais Industrial Complex.

CycloneCC, developed by UK-based Carbon Clean, is designed to improve the economics of point-source carbon capture within industrial facilities.

(Writing by P Deol; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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