RAK Gas COO Ruurd Abma spoke exclusively to Pipeline Magazine about the company’s crucial role within the UAE’s northern emirates
AS the sole supplier of natural gas in Ras al Khaimah, RAK Gas sources gas from a number of fields within the UAE, Qatar and Oman and markets it to industrial companies operating in the northern emirate.
“Gas supplies are vital for the development of industry in the northern emirates…obtaining gas supplies is a big challenge. The UAE desperately needs more gas,” says Abma.
He explains the primary function of RAK Gas is to provide the emirate with a consistent, secure gas supply and to generate revenue for the government of Ras al Khaimah. It does this by selling gas to a number of industrial and power customers, with RAK Ceramics, one of the world’s largest ceramic tile manufacturers, its single largest client, followed by RAK Cement, a major regional cement company. It also provides gas to two local power plants, the 45MW Al Hamra Power Plant and the 84MW Al Ghail Power Plant, with the company’s sales centred on the three industrial areas of Al Hamra, Khor Khwair and Al Ghail.
RAK Gas’ core operations span gas treatment and the trading of gas, in addition to some international exploration ventures in various locations, including Tanzania, Somaliland and Egypt.
In further expanding its supply network, RAK Gas is forming a number of partnerships, including within the small but gas-rich African state of Tanzania. In partnership with Ophir Energy, a UK based energy exploration company, Rak Gas is exploring the Pande East block and also the Nyuni block, where it has partnered with Aminex.
“So far, we have strong prospects of discoveries in our Tanzanian offshore blocks, located in water depths of around 800 metres.
These exploration rounds have been running for around five years, having conducted seismic studies in onshore and marine areas,” says Abma. Under the terms of the partnership, Ophir has covered the costs of these studies and of the first exploration round.
RAK Gas has also partnered with Ophir in the semi-autonomous African state of Somaliland, where it holds just under 23 per cent of a joint venture in Block M10A of the Berbera Block in Guban Basin.
In Egypt, RAK Gas holds interests in the Gazalyah exploration block, where it holds a 20 per cent share and is the field operator alongside 80 per cent partner Isthamaarat Al Arabya.
Abma is also very excited at the prospects presented in the deepwater of Mozambique, though the company is currently not undertaking any activities here. “There is certainly a new hydrocarbon province emerging here – Shell is interested, as are Petrobras, ExxonMobil, Statoil and BG.”
Local gas processing
In terms of its gas treatment operations, RAK Gas sources raw gas from offshore fields including Oman’s Bukha and West Bukha fields and the Umm Al Quwain field in Umm Al Quwain. Through the company’s two processing trains in Ras Al Khaimah, this raw product is separated into treated gas, LPG and condensates, with each then marketed separately.
In 2011, these processing volumes included 150 million cfd of sour gas, 25,000 bpd of condensates and 120 tpd of LPG, in addition to 500 bpd of pentanes. With the Atlantis gas processing train brought online in 2006-2007 and the Bukha train added in 2008-2009 “over the last 10 years, our capacity for gas processing has quadrupled.”
The West Bukha field is the company’s newest supply source, field having been producing since February 2009. In addition to these raw gas sources in Bukha and West Bukha, treated gas is sourced from Abu Dhabi’s Dolphin Energy, with gas transported from Qatar’s North Field via pipeline, under the terms of a supply deal struck in 2005.
Supply-demand challenge
When asked why RAK Gas selected the fields in Oman, Umm Al Quwain and Qatar for feedstock, Abma responds: “These are the only commercially viable sources available for Ras al Khaimah. Nevertheless, this whole region is screaming for more gas.”
“Abu Dhabi has a tremendous amount of gas, but much of this is very sour and hence expensive to produce,” he adds, also pointing to the supplies of gas produced in the shallow waters offshore southern Abu Dhabi.
Though much of this gas is being reinjected into the reservoirs to maintain pressures or is exported to the Asian market rather than being sold domestically.
Ras al Khaimah’s offshore field, Saleh, was also a key source for RAK Gas, providing 24,000 bpd of oil and 25 million cfd of gas at its peak in 19, before its depletion in the early 1990s. However, as Abma explains, re-drilling of this field will be undertaken by RAK Petroleum in the second half of 2012, with production expected to restart from early 2013.
With RAK Gas currently only supplied by the fields in Oman, UAQ and Qatar, Abma says there are plans to further diversify its supply sources. “We have two pipelines now, with three main feeders into the plant, and this supply diversity is a well-designed blessing. However, the production of every oil and gas field diminishes over time, so you have to continually fill the gap between supply and demand, with this being one of the main challenges.”
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