Abu Dhabi enters talks over Habshan gas recovery project

28 August 2009

State-owned gas operator Abu Dhabi Gas Industries Company (Gasco) is in talks with international engineering firms over a deal to design and manage a gas injection and carbon dioxide recovery project

Executives at three contractors tell MEED Gasco has tendered the combined front-end engineering and design (Feed) and project management consultancy (PMC) deal, and hopes to award the contract before the end of September.

The winning bidder will design two systems, one for the injection of about 670,000 cubic metres an hour of nitrogen gas into the Habshan field, and a second to recover carbon dioxide produced by the field for reinjection and use as an industrial gas.

“It is not such a huge project, but it is a very interesting one because of the kind of work involved,” says an Abu Dhabi-based source at one engineering firm considering bidding for the deal.

The project is part of Abu Dhabi’s plans to increase reservoir pressure at its oil and gas fields using nitrogen produced by Elixier, a joint venture of Germany’s Linde and the state-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. Elixier will begin producing the nitrogen at its air-separation facilities in Mirfa, between January and May 2011.

Gasco wants to complete engineering and construction work on the Habshan facilities at the same time, according to a statement from Gasco.

Linde wants to build a 45-kilometre-long, 48-inch-diametre pipeline linking the Mirfa site with Habshan.

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