Oman-backed chemicals producer Union Chlorine is planning to build a $70m plant in the UAE for the production of chlor-alkali chemicals.

Union Chlorine, which is 48.8 per cent owned by Oman Chlorine, will build the plant at ICAD Industrial Zone in Abu Dhabi.

In an announcement to Muscat Securities Market, the company said it had signed a contract with an unnamed international company for the engineering, supply and construction of the plant.

The plant is expected to start up in the third quarter of 2015 with a trial production of 70 tonnes a day of caustic soda, acid and other related products. It is planned to serve oil and gas companies in the region.

Oman Chlorine already runs a chlor-alkali plant in Sohar, northern Oman, producing hydrochloric acid, sodium hydroxide, sodium hypochlorite and caustic soda flakes.