Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Oil Industrial Developments, Southwestern Offshore Area, United Arab Emirates

By

Esam Abd El-Gawad¹, Amr El-Sammak¹, Tarek El-Zabet¹

(1) United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates

 The Ruwais Industrial Complex (RIC) is situated on the southern coast of the Arabian Gulf, 235 km west of Abu Dhabi city. The primary objective of the industrial development of the RIC is to most effectively utilize and enhance the added value of the hydrocarbon resources of Abu Dhabi. The projects making up the complex are dependent on the use of natural gas, gas liquids and crude oil as feedstock and fuel. The oil loading and export terminal at Jebel Dhana, a few kilometers west of Ruwais, lies alongside the RIC. Other facilities that exist in the RIC are an oil refinery, a separation plant, extraction plants, fertilizer plant (Ammonia and Urea), and a housing complex. The industries to be developed at the RIC will unfortunately introduce a large quantity of organic and inorganic pollutants into the marine environment with potential toxic effect on the ecosystem.

The aim of this research is to assess the scale of the problem and the impacts of the RIC on the environment through preliminary analyses of the quantities of the pollutants, and the dynamics of the receiving environment.

Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon (TPH) was found to be relatively high in the studied sediment samples (range from 150-1700 mg/kg). Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) were detected at lower concentration (below detection level) as compared to the calibration standards (EPA, 1996).

Heavy metals analysis discriminates three groups of elements. These groups include elements associated with carbonates, with siliciclastic fractions and with hydrocarbon pollution.