Adgas to supply 1bn scfd in 2013

Abu Dhabi Gas Liquefaction Company Ltd (Adgas) will supply Abu Dhabi over one billion scfd of gas after commissioning of the Integrated Gas Development (IGD) project in late 2013, a senior company official said on Tuesday.

Demand for electricity in Abu Dhabi is increasing at up to 11 per cent year on year. Water and electricity demand is rocketing as the world's third-largest oil exporter builds infrastructure and industry to diversify away from dependence on petrodollars.

"We will give an additional one billion scfd to Abu Dhabi by 2013, as we are playing our role in the national energy strategy," Bader Almohamadi, senior vice-president, technical at Adgas told Reuters in an interview at an industry event.

"Since last month, Adgas has been supplying 211 standard cubic feet per day [scfpd] of gas to Abu Dhabi," he added.

The 211 scfd of gas available is from the Offshore Associated Gas (OAG) project that was commissioned last month.

Gas produced offshore at Das Island is transported via a pipeline to a receiving and processing facility onshore at Habshan, he said.

Adgas has always been a net exporter of liquefied natural gas, exporting all its output mainly to Japan and other markets. It produces 7.5 million tonnes per year (1.1 billion scf) of gas.

"It means additional gas for Abu Dhabi coming from offshore to be utilised onshore," Almohamadi said, adding this was the first time Adgas was supplying gas domestically.

Abu Dhabi receives gas mainly from Gasco and Qatari gas via a subsea pipeline for its domestic consumption.

Demand for natural gas has been rising in the UAE for domestic as well as commercial purposes. Plans are also under way to replace two ageing LNG trains before 2018, Almohamadi said. Adgas currently has three LNG trains.

The UAE holds some 214 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas with gas consumption at around four billion scfd.

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