Takreer makes progress on expansion as year ends

Takreer’s petrol and aromatics project is part of a larger $10 billion expansion plan for its refinery located in Ruwais. WAM

The Abu Dhabi refining company Takreer said on Wednesday it awarded two major contracts for its petrol and aromatics project as part of plans to boost refined-products output in the next five years.

A local subsidiary of Amec Foster Wheeler, a UK-based company, will carry out basic engineering for the project, while another award was given to France’s Axens for process licence technologies, Takreer said in a statement. The amount of the awards and the total project costs were not disclosed.

The project will add 4.2 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of petrol and 1.6 mtpa of aromatics. Takreer, a unit of state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), plans to boost petrol production to 9.4 mtpa by 2022, which translates to about 217,500 barrels per day (bpd), to maximise the “full potential of our assets”, according to Abdulaziz Al Hajri, Adnoc’s refining and petrochemical director. He did not specify Adnoc’s current refining capacity.

“The gasoline [petrol] and aromatics project will enable us to meet the needs of the evolving and expanding market for refined products, as well as add value to each barrel processed,” Mr Al Hajri said.

The expansion is part of Takreer’s larger US$10 billion expansion project for its refinery in Ruwais, which is about 250 kilometres west of Abu Dhabi city, in the emirate’s Western Region.

The first major stage of that expansion came online last year when overall refining capacity doubled to 900,000 bpd and there are plans to add further capacity to handle a growing stream of crude oil from offshore, as well as to feed the much-expanded Borouge petrochemicals plant next door.

This comes after two years of volatile fuel prices, which have affected the price at the pump for UAE motorists. Petrol and diesel are by-products of crude oil and are therefore linked to the prices of the commodity.

The Ministry of Energy began liberalising prices at the pump more than 17 months ago, when petrol prices were allowed to follow the fluctuations of the oil market. Prices are established by a committee, although the formula is not publicly known.

Motorists across the country will pay more at the pump starting on Sunday as the price of Brent crude, the international benchmark, continues to move up.

Fuel prices will increase by 13.01 per cent to Dh1.91 per litre for Super 98, Special 95 will rise by 13.92 per cent to Dh1.80 and E Plus customers will pay 14.56 per cent more at Dh1.73 per litre.

However, diesel will cost Dh1.94 compared with Dh1.61 last year – an increase of more than 20 per cent.

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