OAPEC
Nov 77

His Highness Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahayan, president of the United Arab Emirates, inaugurated the new LNG plant on Das Island on Oct. 4.

The $ 1-billion plant is the first large-scale venture into downstream petroleum operations in the Gulf area. Its production of 2.3 million con/year of LNG , 1-million ton/year of LPG, 220,000 ton/year of natural gasoline and 230,000 ton/year of sulfur is expected to yield $ 365 million in revenues yearly.

The abu Dhabi gas Liquefaction Co. has signed a 20-year contract worth $ 6 billion with the Tokyo Electrical Power Co. under which the Abu Dhabi Co. will supply 2-million tons of LNG and 800,000 tons of LPG a year to the Japanese firms.

The plant, which will use all associated gas produced by Abu Dhabi’s offshore fields, is owned 51 % by the Abu Dahbi National Co. , Compagnie Francais de Petrole, Mitsui & Co. and Bridgestone Liquified Gas Co.

Late in 1972, the contract for construction of the plant was signed, and work began in 1973 with the leveling of the site and the relaying of 560,000 cu./m. of soil and rock. Construction of liquified gas tanks 81m. in diameter and 32m. high followed in March 1974. A monyh later the first of four boilers was constructed, and in March 1975, a jetty to accommodate LNG tankers of 125,000-cm.-m. capacity was completed. Long delays in the delivery of materials had prolonged the contractual date, however.