Taqa and Adnoc pair up on $2.4bn seawater project

Reuters/Hamad I Mohammed

• Adnoc and Taqa will own 51% of seawater treatment project
• A separate consortium will operate the project for first 30 years
• Project will deliver 110m gallons of treated water per day

Adnoc and Taqa, two of the UAE’s largest energy companies, have announced a $2.4 billion project to treat seawater and deliver sustainable water supplies to onshore operations.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and Abu Dhabi National Energy Company, better known as Taqa, will jointly hold a 51 percent majority stake (25.5 percent each) in the project to develop a seawater treatment facility and transportation network for operations at Adnoc’s Bab and Bu Hasa fields in Abu Dhabi.

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The remaining 49 percent stake has been awarded to a consortium consisting of Orascom Construction and Metito, which will arrange the project financing for the construction phase and develop and operate the project before it is returned to Adnoc after 30 years. 

It will replace the current high-salinity, deep aquifer water systems at the fields, thereby reducing energy consumption for water injection by up to 30 percent, said a statement issued on Wednesday. 

The companies added that the project will be connected to the grid and will receive 100 percent of its power from clean energy sources.

It will deliver more than 110 million imperial gallons of filtered seawater per day, through over 230km of distribution pipelines and two pumping stations.

Abdulmunim Al Kindy, Adnoc upstream executive director, said the project will “unlock significant value as we continue to decarbonise and future proof our operations”.

He added that “a substantial portion of the project value” will return to the economy of the UAE, and that this would stimulate growth and create private sector opportunities.

Jasim Husain Thabet, Taqa’s group CEO, said the project will “advance the UAE’s sustainability goals”.

He reiterated that more than 60 percent of the project value during the development and operation phases will flow back into the UAE’s economy under Adnoc’s In-Country Value programme.