The Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (ADFEC) has awarded Canada's SNC-Lavalin a contract for a feasibility study on a project to capture carbon emissions and boost oil output, ADFEC said.

The project is part of a plan by the UAE to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, blamed for global warming, by 40 per cent.

The aim is to pump the gas to oilfields for injection underground to sustain reservoir pressure and maximise crude output, while freeing up the natural gas that is currently reinjected for this purpose.

 The UAE is the world's sixth largest oil exporter and aims to boost capacity to 3.5 million bpd early next decade from around 2.8 million-2.9 million bpd now.

The study will be completed by the end of this year, ADFEC said in a statement. ADFEC is owned by Mubadala Development Company, 100 percent owned by the government of the emirate of Abu Dhabi.

 The study is the first step in establishing a country-wide network of carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects, it said.

The multi-billion dollar CCS programme will be the largest of its kind in the world and the first to be undertaken at a national level, ADFEC said.

The program is part of the Masdar initiative, set up by the Abu Dhabi government to develop sustainable energy and other clean technologies.

  The three different elements of CCS are capturing the carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted from power plants when they burn fossil fuels, piping it underground and burying it permanently.

While each of these three processes are tried and tested, governments worldwide are launching demonstration projects to test them together.

SNC-Lavalin will identify and evaluate the potential for capturing emissions from the UAE's oil and gas production facilities, power plants, petrochemical facilities and existing and planned industrial plants.

It will also provide conceptual engineering for capturing, processing, transporting and storing carbon.

The UAE, like most of its GCC neighbours, is struggling to meet its rapidly rising demand for gas.

SNC-Lavalin was one of five companies that ADFEC invited to bid. The others were Foster Wheeler, Technip, Parsons and Jacobs Engineering.