Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and US-based Occidental Petroleum announced on Tuesday plans to expand the Al Hosn facility’s sour gas processing capacity by 50 percent.

The plant is expected to be become operational within the Adnoc’s new five-year business plan that was recently approved by Abu Dhabi’s Supreme Petroleum Council.

The $10 billion Al Hosn project, one of the world’s largest sour gas plants, began operations in 2015 and reached its full capacity of 1 billion cubic feet per day (bcf) in the same year.

Out of the one billion cubic feet per day of sour gas, the plant produces 500 million cubic feet per day of network gas, 4,400 tons per day of natural gas liquids, 33,000 barrels per day of petroleum condensates and around 9,000 tons per day of pure granulated sulphur.

In a press statement, Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and ADNOC group CEO said: “A key element of our 2030 strategy is to ensure we produce sufficient gas to meet our steadily increasing requirement for gas, and match rising demand from our international customers. Sour gas will play an important role in ensuring we deliver on those commitments.

“For the first time, Adnoc has an integrated gas master plan which links every part of our gas value chain. This will ensure greater efficiency and performance and enable us to maximise the value of our gas assets and pursue, smart, targeted investments to achieve our strategic objectives.”

Vicki Hollub, president and CEO of Occidental Petroleum said: “It is good news that Adnoc is committed to expanding Al Hosn. We look forward to working on the next phase to optimise the plant’s expansion. Demand for domestic gas is rising and processing additional sour gas from new and existing reservoirs makes sound business sense. We have a great partnership with Adnoc. We have been able to merge our collective expertise to make Al Hosn a success story.”

The expansion of Al Hosn will make ADNOC one of the world’s largest producers of sulphur, a by-product of the sour gas production process.

The company plans to support the development of a local sulphur products industry, including enhancing the existing ammonia and urea industry, with a new generation of advanced fertilisers.

Al Hosn is a joint venture between Adnoc with a 60 percent share, and Occidental, with a 40 percent share.