A contract worth an estimated $500m is close to being awarded by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) for a carbon capture project at the company’s already existing Habshan gas plant in Abu Dhabi. The site is ADNOC’s first to capture carbon from its oil and gas operations.

At present, the tender for the contract has reached a significant bidding stage, with London-based energy services company, Petrofac stated to be emerging as the front runner. Other bidders include Larsen & Toubro, Tecnimont, and a group bid from Sinopec and Archirodon.

The contract is for a CO2 recovery unit, a primary compression facility, and a triethylene glycol dehydration unit. It also covers the improvement of existing tail gas treatment units and other associated facilities at the site.

To date, ADNOC has allocated an initial investment of U$15bn to develop low-carbon solutions. It also seeks to scale up its carbon capture, utilization, and storage capability to 5 million tons per year by 2030. ADNOC also aims to achieve zero methane emissions by 2030, ahead of becoming carbon neutral by 2045.

ADNOC is expected to award the contracts for the project prior to the COP28 climate change conference at the end of November 2023 in Abu Dhabi.