SHARJAH, 4 January 2006 — Leading private sector natural gas company, Dana Gas, through its wholly-owned pipeline subsidiary United Gas Transmissions Company (UGTC), has entered into an agreement with Emirates General Petroleum Corporation (Emarat) to build, own and operate a 30 km, 48 inch, common-user gas pipeline from the Sharjah gas hub at Sajaa to the Hamriyah Free Zone (HFZ).
The agreement was signed yesterday at the head offices of Hamriyah Free Zone in the presence of Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed ibn Sultan Al-Qasimi, crown prince of Sharjah and chairman of Sharjah Executive Council, Sheikh Khalid ibn Abdullah ibn Sultan Al-Qasimi, chairman of Hamriyah Free Zone, Sheikh Sultan ibn Ahmed ibn Sultan Al-Qasimi, deputy chairman of Sharjah Petroleum Council, and other officials. The value of the contract is 670 million dirhams, and the gas pipeline will be one of the largest in the UAE, with a design capacity of one billion cubic feet of gas per day (1,000 MMscf/ day). The pipeline is expected to be constructed within one year and operational toward the end of 2006.
Dana Gas and Emarat will have a fifty-fifty partnership in the construction, ownership and operation of the project. The three users of the pipeline, who have entered into the 25-year contract to share its capacity, are the Federal Electricity and Water Authority of the UAE (FEWA), the Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority (SEWA), and the gas marketing company Crescent National Gas Corporation Ltd. (CNGCL), which is an Affiliate of Dana Gas.
“Through this key agreement, we are delighted to partner with Emarat, an established and experienced gas pipeline operator in the northern emirates. We anticipate this to be the beginning of a fruitful relationship of mutual cooperation and benefit, both to the private as well as the public sectors,” said Hamid Dhiya Jafar, executive chairman of Dana Gas.
Rashid Al-Shamsi, general manager of Emarat, added: “This project is an excellent example of cooperation between a public sector company, a private sector company, and the government, both at the federal and state levels, for the benefit of the local economies in power generation and industrial development. Definitely, we’re honored to be part of this key pipeline initiative, which will be an integral catalyst in fostering industrial growth and economic development.” “We’re pleased to witness the establishment of this vital project which will provide large volumes of natural gas to investors in the Hamriyah Free Zone,” Rashid Al-Leem, general manager of the Hamriyah Free Zone said.