ABU DHABI: EmiratesLNG, a joint venture between UAE state-controlled International Petroleum Investment Co. (IPIC) and Mubadala Petroleum, will start output from a yet-to-be-built liquefied natural gas (LNG) import facility by mid-2018.

"It's a strategic project for this country and we are moving forward with it," Musabbeh Al-Kaabi, chief executive officer of Mubadala Petroleum, told reporters on the sidelines of an energy event in Abu Dhabi.

The results of a tender to build the facility, which will be located at the busy oil port of Fujairah, will be announced in early 2015.

Once complete, the terminal will be capable of supplying an average of 1.2 billion standard cubic feet (bcf) of natural gas per day to the UAE.