Takreer set to expand, export and go green

The Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company will back the country's petrochemicals industry and the development of cleaner diesel fuel.

The Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company, also known as Takreer, aims to support the country's emerging petrochemicals industry and bring cleaner diesel to pumping stations.

The plan is part of an expansion programme designed to enable it to export its products.

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) subsidiary intends to double its refining capacity from the beginning of 2014, when an upgrade to its Ruwais refinery should allow it to process an additional 417,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil into petrol, diesel and related products.

The added supply would more than cover current domestic demand, allowing the company to export refined products. Takreer said surplus product would be exported, but has not divulged what proportion would be released on to the world market.

The expansion programme is expected to increase the amount of feedstock the refiner can deliver to the petrochemical industry, one of Takreer's stated ambitions.

"The projects implemented by Takreer will support the downstream industries in the UAE," Mohamed Al Yabhouni, the major projects division manager at Takreer, said on Tuesday at a Meed conference in Abu Dhabi.

The first recipient of Takreer's output is the Abu Dhabi Polymers Company, known as Borouge, a petrochemical joint venture between Adnoc and Austria's Borealis that operates in Ruwais.

Mr Al Yabhouni said Takreer would deliver 1.6 million tonnes of propylene to Borouge once its refinery expansion was completed.

In addition, the refiner is tendering for a plant to produce carbon black, a substance used to reinforce rubber and in the manufacturing of pigments and ink. The contract is due to be awarded in the first quarter of next year, and once the plant is operational in 2014, it will produce 40,000 bpd of carbon black for Borouge.

Takreer is also diversifying its retail product range. A facility to "desulphurise" diesel is being commissioned and, once operational, it is expected to supply the domestic market with 44,000 bpd of "green diesel" - fuel with a sulphur content of less than 10 parts per million.