Abu Dhabi LNG imports to increase

Partially state-owned natural gas company Dolphin Energy said last Wednesday it is to increase its LNG imports in early 2015 to meet rising demand.

“Energy requirements are on the rise to sustain the country’s economic development and additional volumes are needed,” Dolphin Energy’s CEO Ibrahim Ahmed Al Ansari told the national press.

Al Ansari expects three new export gas compressors to be commissioned in the first quarter of 2015 at the company’s gas processing plant in Ras Laffan.

Al Ansari also told reporters that the firm had entered the front-end engineering and design stage for its Northern Emirates Pipeline Project, in which a new branch line will be constructed from the existing Taweelah-Fujairah Pipeline to receiving facilities at Saja’a in the emirate of Sharjah.

Dolphin Energy runs the Dolphin Gas Pipeline, which has imported LNG from Qatar to the UAE’s seven emirates and onto Oman since 2007.

Last Wednesday, Al Ansari told reporters the firm had touched a production milestone of 140 mcm (5 bcf).

To cope with the summer surge in energy demand, the company imported around 8.5 mcm (300 mcf) of LNG per day from Qatar between June and September.