The United Arab Emirates' $10 billion Shah gas field development project will be completed by early 2015, the project's chief executive said on Tuesday, a date three years later than previously anticipated.

The joint venture of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and US firm ConocoPhillips, which runs the project, aims to launch two tender packages this month, Saif Ahmed al-Ghafli said at an industry conference.

'We are expecting (the project to be completed) late 2014, probably Q1 2015 ... but that all depends on the tenders and schedules which we will get from the successful tenders.'

In March, Ali al-Murar, senior vice president of support services at the joint venture, told Reuters the project could be completed in 2012.

The Shah gas development is the first in the UAE of a sour gas field. The Opec oil exporter has the world's fifth-largest gas reserves, much of it sour or with a high sulphur content.

Ghafli said he was confident ConocoPhillips was committed to the Shah gas project. 'There is keen interest by both parties to materialise this project,' he said.

The two new packages will be for the project's products pipeline and for the processing and storing of sulphur at the Ruwais terminal, Ghafli said.

Adnoc has issued tenders for four large contracts related to the Shah gas field development project, its chief executive said on Monday.

Adnoc holds a 60 per cent stake in Shah, while Conoco holds the remainder. The project, which will be implemented in three phases, will process about 1 billion cubic feet per day of sour gas from 20 wells.

The project includes building facilities to gather and process the gas and sulphur. The emirate of Abu Dhabi leads the seven-member UAE federation and holds most of its oil and gas reserves. The UAE is the world's third-largest oil exporter.-Reuters