Abu Dhabi Awards Shah Gas Work

Abu Dhabi and ConocoPhillips have awarded a US$300 million construction contract for their Shah gas project to Al Jaber Group. Last month, local media reported the joint venture was planning to award around US$10 billion of contracts in the first half of 2010 to develop the sour gas field. The two parties would sign the final contract soon, al-Ittihad quoted a source as saying. Privately owned Al Jaber Group will build the project's infrastructure, including its roads as well as units such as gas treatment plants, the newspaper reported.

State-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) has said it expected to see first production from the joint-venture by late 2013 or early 2014. It is the first project the UAE has undertaken to exploit a sour gas field. The field has a high content of potentially deadly sulphur dioxide, making it tougher to produce than conventional reserves. The project would treat around 1 Bscf/d of gas from Shah, and pump around 540 Mscf/d of processed gas into the UAE network.- Trade Arabia