Category: Middle East

Metso has secured a two-year life-cycle contract with Ideal Development for Manufacturing Industries (IDMI) for a new phosphate beneficiation plant at the Eshidiya phosphate mine in the south of Jordan.

Axens says that it has completed the expansion of its Axens Catalyst Arabia Ltd site, aimed at providing local and regional partners with the latest tail gas treatment catalysts, in addition to the site’s legacy catalyst hydroprocessing manufacturing capacity. This makes Axens is the first and only company to produce tail gas treatment catalysts in the Middle East. The company says that the expansion consolidates its capacity to serve its regional customers to meet regulatory requirements and maximise sulphur recovery by up to 99.9%, minimising SOx emissions. The production site supplies the region’s refining and gas industries with the latest generation of Axens’ catalysts, capable of operating at lower temperatures than conventional catalysts, and resulting in lower energy consumption.

The Middle East’s premier event for the sulphur global industry, MEScon 2025, returns to the Conrad Abu Dhabi, Etihad Towers from 19 to 22 May 2025.

Axens Catalyst Arabia Ltd to manufacture Tail Gas Treatment Catalyst on newly expanded site

UAE-based chemicals and transition fuels hub TA’ZIZ has awarded an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract worth $1.7 billion to engineering company Samsung E&A to build the UAE’s first methanol plant. The facility will be located at the Al Ruwais Industrial City in the western part of the emirate of Abu Dhabi. It is projected to produce 1.8 million t/a green methanol, powered by clean energy from the grid, with the plant scheduled for completion in 2028.

In its 4Q 2024 results presentation, Abu Dhabi-based Fertiglobe said that it expects to reach a final investment decision (FID) on two clean hydrogen and ammonia projects in the US and Egypt in 2025. Fertiglobe confirmed that FID on the ADNOC-ExxonMobil low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia project in Baytown, Texas, is expected in 2025, with operations anticipated to begin in 2029. ADNOC’s 35% equity stake in the project will be transferred to Fertiglobe at cost once the project is operational.

thyssenkrupp Uhde says that it has been selected by MOPCO – the Misr Fertilizers Production Company – to supply advanced technology for three existing ammonia and urea plants in Damietta, Egypt, to improve the sustainability of production. Using an innovative carbon capture and usage (CCU) solution, the aim is to remove up to 145,000 t/a of CO2 from the flue gas of the existing ammonia production and use them to boost urea production. At the same time, three 150 t/d axial-radial flow uhde® ammonia converter cartridges using JM’s high performance KATALCOTM 74-1catalyst will be installed in the existing converters to increase ammonia production capacity while lowering natural gas consumption in the synthesis loop by around 10%. To bring down CO2 emissions further, additional green hydrogen feedstock will be sourced from new water electrolysis units powered by renewable energy. MOPCO plans to produce up to 150,000 t/a of green ammonia.

Kuwait’s state owned Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has issued a tender for companies to bid on construction of the second phase of its gas sweetening facility at booster station BS 171 in West Kuwait. Thirty-two companies have been pre-qualified to bid for the $390 million engineering procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the project. Phase II will involve the construction of two processing trains, each with a capacity to produce 60 million scf/d of sales gas from sour gas with an H2S content of 4%. Sulphur recovery from the project will come from two separate 100 t/d trains with a total capacity of 65,000 t/a of molten sulphur.

Jordan’s Prime Minister Jaafar Hassan laid the foundation stone for the second phase of Jordan Phosphate Mines (JPMC) new sulphuric and phosphoric acid plants at Al-Shidiya in a ceremony in mid-February. The Phase II expansion aims to increase the sulphuric acid plant's production capacity from 2,200 t/d to 4,450 t/d (1.5 million t/a). The phase will generate an additional 20 MW of energy per hour, with the potential to export 9 MW. The project will also boost the production capacity of the phosphoric acid plant from 900 t/d to 1,600 t/d (equivalent to 550,000 t/a P2 O5 ). Construction is expected to be completed, and operations begun by September of this year. With the expansion of the industrial complex in Aqaba and future projects involving potash and partnerships in the phosphoric acid industry, JPMC plans to increase its local consumption to 70%, while reducing external exports by 30%.

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has launched a tender for the expansion of offshore gas production at its Satah Al Razboot (SARB) field, part of the Emirate’s huge Ghasha concession. The scope of work will include the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) of at least two wellhead platforms with multiple related facilities and the installation of a 24” subsea gas pipeline to new inlet facilities at Das Island. The project will also include brownfield tie-ins at Al Qatia, Bu Sikeen Islands, Das and Zirku and Arzanah Islands.