Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) has granted contracts worth a total of $700 million to two companies to develop parts of its $10-billion Shah gas project, local Al-Bayan newspaper reported on Thursday.

One of the companies, Athens-based Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC), has confirmed that it has won a $550 million contract to construct a sulphur plant and some pipelines for the giant project which the United Arab Emirates needs to help meet soaring domestic demand.   

'We have won the contract to construct the Shah sulphur granulation plant,' an official at the Abu Dhabi branch of CCC told Reuters.

The second contract, worth $150 million, was awarded to the UAE-based United Construction and Investment Company, the newspaper said, without quoting any sources.

Under the contract, the company is due to construct the secondary buildings for the integrated Shah gas projects. Adnoc officials were not immediately available for comment.

US energy company Occidental Petroleum won the contract develop the Shah sour gas field in January in a deal which could make the US-based company a world leader in high-sulphur gas production.

The UAE holds the world's seventh-largest gas reserves at around 227.1 trillion cubic feet, according to BP statistics. But much of the UAE's gas is sour, containing deadly hydrogen sulphide, making it tougher to produce than conventional gas reserves. - Reuters