Habshan-Bab

Due to the close proximity of the two plants, Habshan and Bab were grouped into one single entity and management in 2001.

Bab is one of GASCO’s original plants. Commissioned in 1981, it has a single NGL extraction train processing 160 MMSCFD of associated gas collected from ADCO's operations in the neighboring oil field.

Unlike other GASCO NGL extraction plants, Bab has sour gas treating facilities using Di-Glycol Amine (DGA) solvent and acid gas recovery system. Acid gas is piped to neighboring Habshan Gas Plant for converting into liquid sulphur. The produced NGL is piped to GASCO Ruwais fractionation plant, while the residual gas is compressed and injected into the network after sweetening.

In mid 2007, The Asab and Bab Integrated Control System (ABICS) Project was completed, involving the installation of advanced computerized systems to replace the original pneumatic control systems.

The first ADNOC gas processing plant (Habshan-0) at Habshan was built in 1983 at Bab oil and gas field, to process sour gas from Thamama-C reservoir wells. The plant went through several expansion projects (debottlenecking in 1989, followed by Habshan-1 in 1996; Habshan-2 in 2001), thereby increasing its gas processing capacity rates to make it one of the largest gas processing plants in the world.

Part of the gas from the Habshan Plant is delivered to consumers through a gas distribution network covering the entire emirate and extending to Dubai. The uninterrupted supply of network gas is critical for the generation of electricity and for water desalination operations for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. It is also essential for the supply of gas to many industries in Abu Dhabi, including the Abu Dhabi Refining Company refineries (TAKREER), the Borouge petrochemical plant and the FERTIL plant. The constant and reliable supply of gas is also crucial for Dubai (Jebel Ali Power Station). Another major gas utilization is its re-injection into the oil and condensate gas reservoirs for pressure maintenance purposes.

In addition to network gas, the Habshan Plant produces Natural Gas Liquids (NGL), condensate and liquid sulphur. NGL (about 6800 tons per day) is transferred to the GASCO Ruwais plant where it is fractionated into ethane (C2), propane (C3), butane (C4) and Paraffinic Naphtha (C5+) products, while condensate (about 142,000 barrels per day) is piped to the TAKREER refineries. About 5010 tons per day of liquid sulphur is also produced, as a by-product of the processing of acid gas. Liquid sulphur is trucked to Ruwais TAKREER facilities, where it is granulated and exported.

Two major developments are in progress at Habshan, planned for completion in Q4 2009: Habshan-3 project will add two non-associated gas processing trains of a total capacity of 1.3 BSCFD, while Habshan Gas Complex Expansion (Habshan-4) project encompasses additional two sulphur processing units, and new associated gas compression facilities. The total Habshan processing capacity will then be around 5 BSCFD.