Union Railway is enlarging the scope of its UAE heavy railway network so it can transport sulphur from Al Gharbia for the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), its chairman said yesterday.
The company is in talks to carry granulated sulphur, a by-product of processing sulphur-rich oil and natural gas, from ADNOC's undeveloped Shah field in the western region to the Ruwais petrochemicals complex and port, said Hussain al Nowais, the chairman of Union Railway.
The sulphur could then be exported by ship for use in fertiliser and sulphuric acid, most likely in India and China.
"We are in advanced discussions for the movement of 7 million tonnes of granulated sulphur coming out of Shah," Mr al Nowais told the "Middle East Rail Projects 2009" conference hosted by MEED.
"It will be the first time such massive quantities of sulphur will be transported for such a long distance."
An additional spur will run 200km from the Shah field to Ruwais, bringing the total length of the network to 1,300km. The state-owned railway company plans a freight and passenger network running from the Saudi border in Abu Dhabi to terminals in Ras al Khaimah and Fujairah, with branch lines to industrial and transit points such as airports.
One important link will extend to Al Ain and ultimately connect with the Sohar industrial port, on the Omani coast.
The first phase of the network, including the spur from the Shah to Ruwais, is expected to open around 2014. The entire network is expected to cost Dh30 billion (US$8.16bn), with the first construction contracts to be awarded next year, the company said.
Union Rail officials hope the network will improve the country's transport infrastructure while boosting the competitiveness of its emerging petrochemicals and metals industry by connecting the country's oil and gas facilities with downstream industries and ports.
Union Railway estimated that 3 million containers will need transport across the UAE by 2015, as well as 30 million tonnes of items such as crushed stone, aluminium, cement, iron ore and steel.
The plan to transport sulphur by rail will allow ADNOC and the US energy firm ConocoPhillips to move ahead with their $10bn Shah project to produce sulphur-laced gas from a deeply buried Abu Dhabi gasfield. The partners' original plan to build the world's longest pipeline for liquid sulphur had proved to be a bigger than expected technical challenge that had threatened to delay the development. The Shah gas is urgently needed by Abu Dhabi power stations and industrial plants.
The efforts to find a way to dispose of the sulphur come as prices for the commodity have plummeted with the global recession to as low as $30 a tonne earlier this year from more than $850 a tonne at the peak.
Shah gas contains a particularly high concentration of hydrogen sulphide, which is toxic and must be removed from any gas destined for sale. The development plan calls for the sulphurous gas to be converted into elemental sulphur, a yellow solid that is mainly used to make fertilisers and sulphuric acid.
Abu Dhabi also extracts hydrogen sulphide from its existing oil and gas developments, especially at Habshan, the site of about half of ADNOC's onshore oil production.
Developing economies of scale for sulphur processing and transportation is one of the ways that ADNOC had hoped to make expensive new gas developments such as Shah economically viable.
When Shah is up and running, Abu Dhabi will become one of the world's biggest sulphur producers with output comparable to that of Canada, the leading exporter.
Last year, Canada exported 7.4 million tonnes of sulphur. Most of that was transported by rail from oil and gasfields to markets in the US, and to Canadian ports.
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Janet Yellen's Firsts
- In 2014, she became the first woman to lead the US Federal Reserve
- In 1999, she became the first female chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
HAEMOGLOBIN DISORDERS EXPLAINED
Thalassaemia is part of a family of genetic conditions affecting the blood known as haemoglobin disorders.
Haemoglobin is a substance in the red blood cells that carries oxygen and a lack of it triggers anemia, leaving patients very weak, short of breath and pale.
The most severe type of the condition is typically inherited when both parents are carriers. Those patients often require regular blood transfusions - about 450 of the UAE's 2,000 thalassaemia patients - though frequent transfusions can lead to too much iron in the body and heart and liver problems.
The condition mainly affects people of Mediterranean, South Asian, South-East Asian and Middle Eastern origin. Saudi Arabia recorded 45,892 cases of carriers between 2004 and 2014.
A World Health Organisation study estimated that globally there are at least 950,000 'new carrier couples' every year and annually there are 1.33 million at-risk pregnancies.
Know before you go
- Jebel Akhdar is a two-hour drive from Muscat airport or a six-hour drive from Dubai. It’s impossible to visit by car unless you have a 4x4. Phone ahead to the hotel to arrange a transfer.
- If you’re driving, make sure your insurance covers Oman.
- By air: Budget airlines Air Arabia, Flydubai and SalamAir offer direct routes to Muscat from the UAE.
- Tourists from the Emirates (UAE nationals not included) must apply for an Omani visa online before arrival at evisa.rop.gov.om. The process typically takes several days.
- Flash floods are probable due to the terrain and a lack of drainage. Always check the weather before venturing into any canyons or other remote areas and identify a plan of escape that includes high ground, shelter and parking where your car won’t be overtaken by sudden downpours.
Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
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Golden Shoe top five (as of March 1):
Harry Kane, Tottenham, Premier League, 24 goals, 48 points
Edinson Cavani, PSG, Ligue 1, 24 goals, 48 points
Ciro Immobile, Lazio, Serie A, 23 goals, 46 points
Mohamed Salah, Liverpool, Premier League, 23 goals, 46 points
Lionel Messi, Barcelona, La Liga, 22 goals, 44 points
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