Emirates National Oil Company (Enoc) Group has awarded an engineering, procurement and construction contract to Overseas-AST, the last of three contracts for the US$1 billion (Dh3.67bn) expansion of its Jebel Ali refinery.
Dubai-based Overseas-AST will join the project's main contractor, Technip Italy, as well as Rotary Engineering Fujairah, to complete the refinery expansion, which will increase capacity by 50 per cent by end-2019. The value of the three contracts has not been disclosed.
“The refinery’s expansion is part of the group’s five-year strategic plan to secure uninterrupted energy supply in the UAE to the highest levels of efficiency and reliability,” said Saif Al Falasi, the group chief executive of Enoc.
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Overseas-AST will construct the various interconnecting pipelines between the refinery’s processing units, storage tanks and berth facilities within Jebel Ali Free Zone. Technip is in charge of the main design and construction of the refinery’s ancillary units, while Rotary Engineering will construct 12 new storage tanks.
Mr Al Falasi added: “The final phase of the expansion also brings us a step closer to meeting the growing demand for clean energy and petroleum products locally as manufactured products will meet stringent Euro 5 standards.”
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A new condensate processing train will be added to help to increase daily capacity to 210,000 barrels from its current 140,000 barrels per day. In addition, processing units will help increase the products such as petrol, jet fuel and diesel to meet the rise in local demand as well as for export.
“With primary energy consumption growing by 2.1 per cent in the region and the Middle East making up 6.7 per cent of the share of global energy consumption in 2016, the expansion of the Jebel Ali refinery plays a key role in the region’s downstream strategy for exports and increasing domestic use,“ Mr Al Falasi said, quoting data from BP.
The UAE Government estimates that domestic energy demand is growing 9 per cent per year, in line with the country's rising population. Mr Al Falasi said in April that Dubai’s population alone was forecast to increase by nearly 32 per cent by 2021.