ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dolphin Energy Limited, part of Mubadala Development Company, chaired by His Highness General Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, said that works on the cross-country gas pipeline to pump gas from Qatar to the east coast of the UAE would be finished by Q3 2010.

The project is part of the Abu Dhabi’s strategic plan, “Plan Abu Dhabi 2030”, aimed at providing all necessary infrastructures needed for economic development, decreasing dependency on oil revenues and diversification of the income resources.

Ibrahim Ahmed Al Ansari, General Manager, Dolphin Energy UAE, said “This project plays a vital role in realizing Plan Abu Dhabi 2030 as it constitutes an important source of natural gas for the emirate. Dolphin now provides the emirate with 929 million cubic feet of gas/day (cfd), which helps boost the emirate’s economy besides creating new jobs,” he added.

As for the support from the government of Abu Dhabi to the project, Al Ansari added “The support was unlimited and essential for the success of this project.”

Dolphin is an entity of Abu Dhabi Government, which owns 51% of Mubadala’s shares, and the remaining shares are equally divided between France’s Total and US Occidental Petroleum.

Al Ansari also commended “The great support and encouragement provided by both the Abu Dhabi Government and Qatar Government to Dolphin, helped us expand throughout the last few years.”

Dolphin Energy provides the UAE with around 2 billion cubic feet of gas/day (cfd) from Qatar, which covers one third of the local consumption and helps in boosting the economic growth. Al Ansari added that Dolphin is witnessing a high demand for gas in the local market and has contracts that span over a 25-year period.

The new gas pipeline will pump gas from the plant in Abu Dhabi’s Taweelah, which receives gas from Qatar, to the under construction ‘Qidfa Water and Electricity Station’, of Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority, chaired by H.H. Sheikh Diab bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Member of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council.

Since its inception, Mubadala spared no effort to turn this vision into tangible reality through adopting a number of initiatives. The company participated in diversifying Abu Dhabi’s economic resources through introducing new industries, such as renewable energy, aluminum, auto, aerospace, IT, real estate development among others.

According to the Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030, the emirate’s government estimates that the dependency of government sector on oil could be reduced to 40% by the year 2020 and 35% by the year 2030, oil accounted for 59% of the emirate’s GDP during the years 2005 and 2007.

*Source: ME NewsWire