• Skip to main content

    Nitrogen+Syngas 396 Jul-Aug 2025

    21 July 2025

    Wood to work on UAE’s first large-scale green methanol plant

    UK engineering and consulting company Wood has received a contract from the UAE’s chemicals and transition fuels hub TA’ZIZ to provide project management consultancy for the development of one of the largest methanol plants in the world. Wood will work with TA’ZIZ’s engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor, Samsung E&A, to deliver this project.

    Gerry Traynor, President of Eastern Hemisphere Projects at Wood, said: “Wood is continuing to deliver complex projects at scale for our clients in the Middle East region, a key strategic growth region. This win with TA’ZIZ is a testament to our world-class expertise in downstream chemical facilities and extensive project management capabilities. We are proud to support TA’ZIZ on this significant project for the UAE.”

    Located in Al Ruwais Industrial City in the western Al Dhafra region of Abu Dhabi, TA’ZIZ’s plant is set to become the first methanol production facility in the UAE and one of the largest of its kind in the world. It will produce 1.8 million t/a of green methanol, powered by clean energy from the grid.

    Construction of the plant is expected to be completed by 2028 under the EPC contract worth $1.7 billion. The facility is part of the chemicals and transition fuels hub, which will, in its initial phase, produce 4.7 million t/a of chemicals by 2028, including methanol, low-carbon ammonia, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), ethylene dichloride, vinyl chloride monomer, and caustic soda.

    Latest in Industrial

    Price Trends

    The global sulphur market has entered a holding pattern, as a wave of bearish sentiment has so far failed to move stubbornly high spot prices. The departure of a significant volume of product from the Middle East has emboldened buyers and shifted market sentiment firmly towards bearish, but at time of writing this has so far failed to translate into lower prices. With sellers in no hurry to lower prices and spot availability still tight, the market has stalled as both sides wait for the other to blink first.

    Restart for Hongda smelter

    Hongda's 100,000 t/a zinc smelter, in China's Sichuan Province, completed scheduled maintenance and equipment upgrading and officially resumed production on 21st June, the company said. The smelter had been shut down for planned maintenance since January, during which time a modernisation project for the electrolytic zinc smelting system was also carried out. Following the nearly six-month revamp, the resumption of production is expected to improve overall operational efficiency, reduce unit production costs, and increase the utilisation rate, The company said. The stable supply of sulphuric acid generated by the zinc smelter will effectively leverage the synergies of the "sulphur-phosphorus" industrial chain in the company, an help alleviate cost pressures on the company's phosphorus chemical business segment.