The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) is reported to be close to awarding a major contract for a carbon capture project with an estimated value of over $500 million at its existing Habshan gas plant in Abu Dhabi, the company’s first-of-its-kind project to capture carbon from its oil and gas operations.

According to sources familiar with the process, cited by Upstream, the tender for the contract has reached a crucial bidding stage, and London-based energy services company Petrofac (LON: PFC) has emerged as the front runner.

The list of key bidders is reported to also include India’s Larsen & Toubro, known as L&T, (NSE: LT), Italy’s Tecnimont (BIT: MAIRE), and a consortium consisting of China’s Sinopec (SHA: 600028) and Greece’s Archirodon.

The contract would cover a carbon dioxide (CO2) recovery unit, a primary compression facility, a triethylene glycol dehydration unit, enhancement of existing tail gas treatment units and other associated facilities.

Relevant: Occidental And ADNOC To Explore Potential Of Carbon Management In The U.S. And UAE

The initiative is part of ADNOC’s decarbonization efforts, with a target to achieve zero methane emissions by 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2045, five years earlier than previously planned.

The company has allocated an initial investment of $15 billion to low-carbon solutions and plans to scale up its carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) capability to 5 million tons per annum (TPA) by the end of the decade.

According to Upstream, ADNOC will seek to proceed with the award of contracts for its the Habshan CO2 recovery project ahead of the COP28 climate change conference, which will take place at the end of November in Abu Dhabi.

The state-owned energy giant plans to inject the captured CO2 into its existing fields as part of an enhanced oil recovery project, industry sources were quoted as saying.