The UAE is set to double its sulphur production from its current 6 million tonnes a year to become the world’s largest producer, according to an executive with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc).

“We produce six million tonnes of sulphur per year but over the coming decade we expect this number to almost double,” said Omar Suwaina al-Suwaidi, gas management director at Adnoc, speaking at Middle East Sulphur conference in Abu Dhabi.

The UAE is currently the world’s largest exporter of sulphur, the production of which has increased since the commissioning of Abu Dhabi’s Shah sour gas project in 2015.

“Adnoc’s share in global supplies has increased from four per cent in 2014 to about 11 per cent in 2016,” said Hamad al-Raisi, senior market analyst at Adnoc.

Abu Dhabi is looking for new markets to export sulphur - a by-product of the hydrocarbons industry - that is widely used in fertilisers and other industries.

“Internationally, we plan to enter into partnerships in markets importing Adnoc sulphur to manufacture phosphate based fertilisers in Africa, Asia, South America and Australia,” added al-Suwaidi.

Adnoc currently has sulphur granular storage capacity of 920,000 tonnes, in addition to 140,000 tonnes of liquid storage as well as 2.48 million tonnes of stockpiling options.