Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) awarded two major contracts worth more than $3.5 billion to Korean Samsung Engineering through ADNOC Refining, a wholly-owned ADNOC subsidiary, Al-Bawaba reported.

The first contract is an Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contract worth $3.1 billion for a crude oil processing flexibility project. The project will increase the refining capacity of the Ruwais Refinery-West complex to 420,000 barrels per day (b/d) of Upper Zakum crude by the end of 2022.

The second contract authorises a $473 million project to recover power and water at the ADNOC-owned Ruwais oil refinery.

The second $473 million EPC contract will allow for a new Waste Heat Recovery Project. Scheduled to be completed by the end of 2023, the project will generate an additional 230 megawatt MW of electricity for sale and 62,400 cubic meters water per day, by capturing waste heat through upgrading four giant gas turbines with closed-cycle power generation technology.

UAE Minister of State and CEO of ADNOC Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber said “ADNOC has a long and successful history of working with Korean companies as partners in our concession areas, as contractors for our major projects, and as a customer of our crude oil and refined products. The award of two major Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contracts reinforces the strong business relationship that exists between the UAE and Korea.”

The projects come as a part of ADNOC’s efforts to increase downstream production following OPEC’s cuts to upstream production. The company is looking to increase its petrochemical production by 14.4 million tons per year by 2025.