A subsidiary of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (Adnoc) awarded two contracts worth 4.44 billion dirhams ($1.21 billion) to the Italian unit of French oilfield firm Technip and Dodsal India, an Arabic daily said on Thursday.   

Abu Dhabi Gas Industries (Gasco) awarded the two contracts for the building of gas treatment facilities and purified sulphur for export in the Western region of the emirate, Arabic newspaper Al-Bayan said.

Gasco liquefies gas at Das Island for export gas LNG. Most of the gas it chills goes to Tokyo.   

The first contract worth $624 million to will be to build a local treatment facility and gas export terminal at Ruwais.

The second contract of $500 million to Dodsal India, part of Dubai-based Dodsal Group, will create a gas processing and sulphur refining facility in Habshan, the paper said.

Another $84 million contract was awarded to the Arabian Pipes Company for the supply 420 km of pipeline, according to a company statement.   

The UAE, the world's third-largest oil exporter, is spending tens of billions of dollars to boost gas capacity to meet rapidly rising domestic demand.   

The country sits on the world's fifth-largest gas reserves but has been slow to develop them and relies on imports of 2 billion cubic feet per day (cfd) from Qatar to meet the shortfall between domestic supply and demand. - Reuters