UAE’s ADNOC, AD Ports to build new shipping facilities for TA’ZIZ chemicals projects

The UAE’s Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., or ADNOC, and AD Ports plan to jointly develop a liquids terminal and logistics facilities in the industrial hub of Ruwais to serve the $6 billion TA’ZIZ petrochemical projects due for startup from 2025.

ADNOC Logistics & Services and AD Ports Group will build facilities that support tenants of TA’ZIZ Industrial Chemicals Zone in Ruwais, ADNOC said in a Nov. 18 statement. TA’ZIZ, a joint venture between ADNOC and Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ, comprises seven petrochemical projects that will have an investment value of about $6 billion.

“The facility will be a critical part of the supply chain for feedstocks and will store and load final products for export,” ADNOC said. “The partners will select an international operator to enter into a new joint venture and contribute to the development of the new port.”

Three large-scale berths and associated infrastructure in addition to loading and unloading facilities will make up the foundation of the new port, ADNOC said. The two liquid berths measure 640 meters in length with the dry bulk berth measuring 320 meters. A tank farm with ten product tanks and one feedstock storage tank will be included.

Seven projects

TA’ZIZ is made up of three zones; an Industrial Chemicals Zone that will host chemicals production with seven projects in the design phase, a Light Industrial Zone that will convert the outputs of the Chemicals Zone into consumable products, and an Industrial Services Zone that will house companies who provide services required by the other zones.

Since TA’ZIZ was launched in November 2020, ADNOC has awarded contracts for the initial Front-End Engineering and Design (pre-fEED) for the seven chemicals projects. Partnership announcements have been made for blue ammonia, ethylene dichloride (EDC), chlor-alkali (CA) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Abu Dhabi utility firm TAQA and ADNOC have also signed an agreement to develop a utilities facility for chemicals projects.

ADNOC L&S has a fleet of over 240 owned and chartered vessels and has signed a 25-year exclusive agreement to service all petroleum ports in the emirate of Abu Dhabi.

AD Ports, the operator of Khalifa Port in Abu Dhabi, operates 11 ports and terminals mainly in the UAE and Guinea. It recorded a 68% year-on-year growth in cargo volumes in the first nine months of 2021 while container throughput grew slightly.
Source: Platts