Abu Dhabi’s Al Ruwais Industrial City is set to see around $10 billion in capital investment for new chemicals production following agreement for a strategic collaboration between TA’ZIZ and Alpha Dhabi Holding, an investment holding company.
The partners say that “subject to final investment decisions and regulatory approval” production of up to 14 chemicals, equating to some 2.2 million tpa of new production capacity will be onstream in the coming years. Chemicals will include styrene and polystyrene, acrylic acid and derivatives, polyols, MDI, epoxy resins and linear alpha-olefins. These products will meet domestic demand from sectors including construction, automotive and consumer goods. They could also substitute for some products which are currently imported into the UAE. This would strengthen local supply chain resilience, the partners say. The proposed new chemicals will take TA’ZIZ’s production portfolio to 4.7 million tpa of marketable products by the end of 2028.
Founded in 2020 as a joint venture between ADNOC and ADQ, TA’ZIZ is described as a “manufacturing, industrial services, logistics and utilities ecosystem, that drives, supports, and enables the production of transition fuels and new products across the chemicals value chain.”
Mashal Saoud Al-Kindi, CEO of TA’ZIZ said: “This strategic collaboration with Alpha Dhabi offers significant potential to expand TA’ZIZ’s mission to drive industrial growth, enable import substitution and create new economic opportunities in the UAE.”
As well as capitalising on synergies across ADNOC’s feedstock sourcing, utilities, infrastructure and facilities integration, the partners add that the collaboration is being progressed through a joint feasibility and market study, which is inline with the UAE’s industrial strategy and the Make it in the Emirates Initiative. This initiative is the UAE’s flagship platform for supporting national industrial transformation, designed to deliver industrial growth at scale. It operates across 12 sectors including food and agriculture; pharmaceuticals and medical technology; and chemicals, plastics and sustainable materials.
In a separate development TA’ZIZ in partnership with Proman, has reached financial close on $2 billion of financing to build the UAE’s first world scale methanol plant in Al Ruwais Industrial City. Proman is a diversified energy producer with methanol and fertilizer production facilities in Trinidad and Tobago, the United States and Oman.
Operated by the TA’ZIZ Methanol Company the 1.8 million tpa methanol plant is slated for completion during the third quarter of 2028. Proman’s marketing arm, Valenz, has exclusive rights to market the methanol to domestic and international customers, once the plant is operational.
The partners said that the financing package has brought together 11 leading regional, European and Asian financial institutions. Proman Chief Executive David Cassidy said: “The strong interest in this transaction underscores market confidence in methanol’s growth trajectory, both as a key chemical and as a cleaner burning fuel for transportation and power generation.”
Further reading:
- BASF launches 'world-scale' Verbund site in China
- Johnson Matthey technology chosen for new biomethanol fuel plant
- UAE-UK partnership will invest in life sciences
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