ADNOC has hailed a “tartan” energy revolution in Aberdeen while seeking supply chain partners for a $5bn opportunity in Abu Dhabi.
John MacArthur, a native of Tiree in the Hebrides, is the group climate change officer at the Emirate’s national oil and gas company.
Speaking at the Energy Exports Conference in Aberdeen, he set out opportunities for firms to get involved in building and producing the giant Taziz petrochemicals complexes planned for the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Seeking partners for that, he said the Scots have a “great tradition” of engineering and exporting energy expertise.
“Applying our ingenuity to energy transition is not new to us; from hydro in the Highlands, coal mines in the central belt, the incredible feats of North Sea oil and gas over the last 50 years, we are now transitioning to tidal power and floating wind in the Pentland Firth.
“Hundreds of onshore wind turbines in places like Whitelee outside Glasgow, and back in my home island of Tiree where we have a community-owned turbine, it even has a name: it’s called Tilley the Turbine.
© Supplied by EIC“Here we have developing CCS. I was involved in net zero Teesside and getting those things off the ground.
“And of course the Tartan offshore wind and hydrogen revolution, with its Energy Transition Zone nucleus here in Aberdeen.”
Taziz “will transform the UAE petrochemical industry this decade”, Mr MacArthur said.
The series of petrochemical complexes cover an area of 85 square kilometres – an area about the size of Manhattan island in New York City.
“Taziz will expand our portfolio petrochemical building blocks, enabling more than $5bn in new value chains – and that’s just the start, with most of the petrochemicals being produced in the UAE for the first time.”
Materials including -blue ammonia for fertilizers, chloralkali for housing infrastructure and consumer goods, PVC for pipes, films, wires, cables and methanol for reducing gas emissions are among the “anchor” projects to see materials produced in the UAE.
ADNOC, in its joint venture with OCI, is already a major exporter of blue ammonia as a fertiliser.
Mr MacArthur said the world must not forget “that hydrocarbons also secure our access to food and the materials that the world needs”, pointing to ADNOC’s role as an exporter of ammonia as a key fertiliser.
“Ammonia as fertiliser helps to feed half of the planet’s eight billion people, providing food security.”
© Supplied by ADNOCMr MacArthur put out a call to the supply chain in Aberdeen to get involved in the Taziz project.
He added: “These anchor projects and future projects will provide many Taziz light industrial zone manufacturing opportunities too, as well as opportunities to help us build these chemical complexes.
“We invite interested partners and manufacturers to contact us to explore getting involved in some of these. You can find all of these details on Taziz.com.
“It’s really great to be home. I look forward to helping build partnerships between both our countries and also trusted relationships, building on many we already have, to build those trusted relationships for our future companies working together. So let’s win in the energy transition together.”
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