Dubai considers LNG import terminal expansion

The UAE is considering expanding the capacity of a liquefied natural gas terminal in Dubai to help meet rising demand for electricity and water, the energy minister said.

The UAE wants to upgrade the LNG terminal in Jebel Ali, which has a capacity of 3 million tonnes per year, Suhail Al Mazrouei said.

He declined to give details of the new capacity or timeline for the increase. LNG is gas cooled to a liquid to be transported by ships. The UAE already has plans to build an LNG import facility at the port city of Fujairah with a capacity of 9 million tonnes per year.

“In the future we will increase the amount of LNG or capacity to import to provide flexibility to power generation,” Mr Mazrouei said.

A drop in LNG prices is encouraging countries such as the UAE to look at increasing LNG imports, he added. The UAE is also looking at upgrading a compression facility at Dolphin Energy that has a capacity to receive 2 billion cubic feet per day of gas through a pipeline from Qatar, the minister added.

The UAE also is developing two technologically challenging gasfields.

The US$10 billion Shah gas project, in which California’s Occidental has a 40 per cent stake, started commissioning this year and will produce 500 million cubic feet of gas after stripping it of sulphur.

The $10 billion “ultra-sour” Bab gas project, in which Royal Dutch Shell has a 40 per cent stake, is forecast to produce 520 million cubic feet per day of gas by 2020 after impurities have been removed.

Energy demand in the UAE is growing 9 per cent annually because of an expanding population and more demand for power from industry.

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