Adnoc and Abu Dhabi National Energy Company, better known as Taqa, have signed a 27-year agreement to supply critical utilities to the Ta'ziz Industrial Chemicals Zone in Ruwais.
Adnoc and Taqa will jointly develop the central utilities project, including the electricity grid connection, steam production, process cooling, and water and wastewater utilities, to support Ta'ziz’s chemicals and transition fuels projects, the companies said on Wednesday.
The duration of the agreement includes the offtake of the utilities and construction of the plant.
Ta'ziz, a joint venture between Adnoc and ADQ, will set up and own a service management company, which will be the sole offtaker of the utilities.
“Reliable and efficient utilities remain central to our value proposition, providing industry leaders with the stable infrastructure essential for world-scale chemicals and transition-fuels manufacturing,” said Mashal Al Kindi, chief executive of Ta'ziz.
Ta'ziz is supporting the UAE's industrial strategy to boost the sector's contribution to the country's gross domestic product to Dh300 billion ($81.68 billion) by 2031.
Its industrial zone is set to produce 4.7 million tonnes per annum of chemical products from 2028. This will include methanol, low-carbon ammonia, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), ethylene dichloride (EDC), vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) and caustic soda.
EDC and VCM are critical raw materials in the production of PVC, a thermoplastic material used in a wide range of industrial and consumer applications.
In November, Ta'ziz signed two long-term sales agreements of up to 10 years with India's Sanmar Group to supply more than 350,000 tonnes per annum of EDC and VCM. It will be the first time either chemical has been exported from the UAE.
The new utilities project is being developed on a build-own-operate basis by a project company jointly owned by Taqa (60 per cent) and Adnoc (40 per cent). The companies will jointly oversee operations and maintenance.
The platform's contracted capacity includes approximately 163 tonnes per hour (tph) of steam, 710 tph of water and 13,850 normal cubic metres per hour (Nm³/h) of compressed air.
It also covers 385 m³/h of wastewater treatment, 73,000 m³/h of sea cooling water, 21,500 m³/h of fresh cooling water as well as 5,000 m³/h of firewater.
The steam will provide heat for chemicals processes, support stripping, cleaning and temperature control, and drive turbines, the companies said.
Water will be used for cooling, steam generation, chemicals processing, firefighting, cleaning, washing and drinking.
