Al Reyadah carbon-capture project, an Adnoc and Masdar joint venture, has been in the works for four years. Tons of carbon will be captured from Emirates Steel manufacturing and transferred to Al Reyadah plant for compression and dehydration, exported through a buried pipeline to Adnoc’s NEB and Bab onshore oilfields. Delores Johnson / The National
Al Reyadah carbon-capture project, an Adnoc and Masdar joint venture, has been in the works for four years. Tons of carbon will be captured from Emirates Steel manufacturing and transferred to Al ReyaShow more

Abu Dhabi starts up world’s first commercial steel carbon capture project



Abu Dhabi has started up the world’s first fully commercial carbon-capture steel project, a milestone for the industry that also is the largest to inject CO2, or carbon dioxide, into oil reservoirs to enhance output.

The Al Reyadah project, which has been in the works for four years, is a joint venture between Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and Masdar, the renewable energy arm of Mubadala Development, the emirate’s strategic industrial investment fund.

It is also sponsored by Emirates Steel Industries (ESI), whose two Abu Dhabi plants will have a net zero carbon footprint once the project is fully operational.

“This project has been under study for a very long time and now it is a reality,” said Suhail Al Mazrouei, the UAE Energy Minister.

“When it is fully operational it will remove CO2 equivalent to taking more than 170,000 cars off the roads,” while also improving both oil and gas output to meet national objectives, the minister said.

The oil, gas and coal industries, as well as industries that are heavy energy consumers and big C02 emitters, have been pursuing carbon capture, storage and utilisation (CCUS)technology for well over a decade and bodies such as the United Nations intergovernmental panel on climate change and the International Energy Agency have pointed to the technology as vital to meet targets to reduce CO2 emissions to curb man-made climate change.

While the Al Reyadah project is one of 15 large-scale projects worldwide, according to The Global CCS Institute, a number of projects have gone by the wayside because their sponsors said they were not economically feasible.

The Abu Dhabi project was able to overcome this because of a number of unique features, such as the proximity and favourable geology of the oilfields, as well as the concerted support of its shareholders, Emirates Steel and the Abu Dhabi Government.

“This project will allow for the more productive use of a valuable commodity, natural gas, whether for power generation, or as petrochemicals feedstock, or for export,” said Sultan Al Jaber, the Minister of State and the chief executive of Adnoc, which owns 51 per cent of Al Reyadah.

“It also unlocks another potential revenue stream in the industrial sector, encouraging the wider application of commercially viable CCUS technologies globally,” he added.

The plant is located in the Mussafah industrial area on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi city, between the two main ESI plants. Saeed Al Romaithi, the chief executive of ESI, said the project will take out 800,000 tonnes of annual CO2 emissions and is the first iron and steel project of its kind in the world, ahead of pilot projects in China and Taiwan.

The US$122 million project includes the world’s largest high-pressure compressor unit, which will take a total of 41 million standard square feet per day of dry CO2 from the two plants, compress it into a state where it acts like a liquid, the run it 43 kilometres via pipeline to the Rumaitha and BAB oilfields in Abu Dhabi’s main onshore oilfield concession, said Paul Crooks, the project manager.

“We are taking CO2 from Emirates Steel and injecting it on a commercial basis into our reservoirs – there is a huge difference between injecting it to dispose of it and injecting it for EOR, or enhanced oil recovery,” Mr Al Mazrouei said. “It is in the pilot phase now but the initial reaction in the reservoirs is positive and we are hoping we can expand this project.”

The project has reached about half its capacity in the past two weeks and that may rise further depending on Adnoc’s requirements.

So how has it been able to be commercial when other projects have failed?

“You create value by liberating natural gas which is currently being ijnected for enhanced oil recovery, so you have gas that can be freed up for the economy,” said Bader Saeed Al Lamki, the executive director in charge of clean energy technolgoies at Masdar. “Also, you are able to extract more oil and ultimately it is a closed loop so the CO2 is trapped there, so it is a value proposition.”

The ratio of CO2 injected to natural gas freed up for other purposes is 1:1.5, Mr Al Lamki said.

Clean energy technology is a plank of the Government’s economy transformation strategy and over the past decade Masdar has invested $2.7 billion in the development of renewable energy and clean technologies in the Mena region and international markets, said Mohamed Al Ramahi, the Masdar chief executive.

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Mageed Yahia, director of WFP in UAE: Coronavirus knows no borders, and neither should the response

Children who witnessed blood bath want to help others

Aged just 11, Khulood Al Najjar’s daughter, Nora, bravely attempted to fight off Philip Spence. Her finger was injured when she put her hand in between the claw hammer and her mother’s head.

As a vital witness, she was forced to relive the ordeal by police who needed to identify the attacker and ensure he was found guilty.

Now aged 16, Nora has decided she wants to dedicate her career to helping other victims of crime.

“It was very horrible for her. She saw her mum, dying, just next to her eyes. But now she just wants to go forward,” said Khulood, speaking about how her eldest daughter was dealing with the trauma of the incident five years ago. “She is saying, 'mama, I want to be a lawyer, I want to help people achieve justice'.”

Khulood’s youngest daughter, Fatima, was seven at the time of the attack and attempted to help paramedics responding to the incident.

“Now she wants to be a maxillofacial doctor,” Khulood said. “She said to me ‘it is because a maxillofacial doctor returned your face, mama’. Now she wants to help people see themselves in the mirror again.”

Khulood’s son, Saeed, was nine in 2014 and slept through the attack. While he did not witness the trauma, this made it more difficult for him to understand what had happened. He has ambitions to become an engineer.

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2015 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)

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2017 - Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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Real estate tokenisation project

Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.

The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.

Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.

At a glance

Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.

 

Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year

 

Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month

 

Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30 

 

Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse

 

Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth

 

Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances

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Mansoor Al Shehail won the 50-man Battle Royal

The Undertaker beat Goldberg

 

Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
 
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia