ADNOC changes venue for new LNG plant from Fujairah to Ruwais

(Bloomberg) – The United Arab Emirates has decided to build its new natural gas export facility at the Persian Gulf port of Ruwais instead of at Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman coast.

State-controlled Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) initially planned to construct the plant — which will more than double the UAE’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) production capacity — at Fujairah, a major trading hub for oil products in the Middle East. The company said it had evaluated all options for locations and decided that Ruwais benefited from being closer to some of ADNOC’s major facilities, which include gas fields and petrochemical plants.

ADNOC hasn’t disclosed the cost of the plant, but they typically require billions of dollars of investment.

Fujairah sits outside the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint at the entrance to the Persian Gulf, through which about a fifth of global oil exports pass.

The UAE is ramping up gas production to feed local power plants and a growing chemicals industry, as well meet rising demand for LNG in Europe and Asia.

On Monday, ADNOC announced a three-year deal worth roughly $1.2 billion at today’s prices to supply LNG to TotalEnergies SE.