March 29, 2010 No.1340
MHI Establishes Representative Office in Abu Dhabi
To Enhance Locally Tailored Information Gathering and Business Activities,
Targeting CCS-EOR and Next-generation Transportation System Projects
Tokyo, March 29, 2010 - Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has established a Representative Office in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The launch of the Abu Dhabi Representative Office, which begins operations on April 1, is aimed at increasing the company's business opportunities in Abu Dhabi, which is currently promoting large-scale renewable energy development projects and an environment-friendly social infrastructure leveraging its revenues from petroleum resources. In the near term, MHI will mainly target projects involving carbon capture and storage (CCS) coupled with enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and next-generation transportation systems. The new office will function as a base for dynamic, locally tailored information gathering and business development activities.
This will be MHI's second representative office in the Persian Gulf region, joining the Middle East Office in Dubai. The Abu Dhabi Office will initially be located in Mohammed Bin Zayed City, a free zone, and in the future will move to Masdar City*1, which is now under construction. Kinya Watanabe, General Manager of the Strategic Business Development Office for the UAE at MHI's Machinery & Steel Structures Headquarters, has been appointed representative of the new office. Operations at the new office, which will also have two local employees, will get under way with support from head office staff dispatched from Japan.
MHI established the Strategic Business Development Office for the UAE at its main office in Tokyo in October 2009 in a quest to strengthen its UAE market development activities, especially in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Since taking this move the company has been pursuing increased opportunities to contribute to Abu Dhabi's development and to expand its own business in the region, including projects like the Masdar Initiative, a strategic economic development program with environmental and sustainability priorities that Abu Dhabi is vigorously promoting, and urban infrastructure development projects designed to attract the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)*2 to Abu Dhabi.
To smoothly and effectively implement the company's initiatives relating to such projects, MHI opted to conduct locally based activities from the early stages. With establishment of its new office, the company will enhance its capability to promptly grasp the local situation and local needs and respond accordingly to customers such as the Abu Dhabi government and public organizations, while also boosting the company's presence in Abu Dhabi.
CCS-EOR involves technologies enabling effective recovery of oil by injecting the oil layer with carbon dioxide (CO2), which is separated and recovered from flue gas emitted from power generation plants and other sources. These technologies are expected to contribute to Abu Dhabi, a country rich in oil resources, significantly. Other products and technologies the company plans to propose to Abu Dhabi include: key next-generation transportation systems such as intelligent transport systems (ITS) and light-rail transit (LRT); infrastructure for next-generation transportation modes such as electric vehicles; and renewable energy power generation systems such as wind power and photovoltaic systems. Going forward MHI will further intensify communication with local customers and promote the development of business opportunities.
Notes:
1. Masdar City is a 6.5 square kilometer free zone currently being
constructed beside the Abu Dhabi International Airport. It is intended
to serve as an environmentally attuned city that
largely shuns use of fossil fuels. Construction work began in
February 2008 and is slated for completion in 2015.
2. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) was officially
established in Bonn in January 2009 as an international
body to promote the widespread and increased adoption
and sustainable use of renewable energy. At a meeting last July, Abu Dhabi was designated as the organization's interim headquarters.
Today more than 140 member states have become signatories
to IRENA's Statute.
Return to top.