Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (MHI) has announced it will establish a new strategic business development office for the UAE within the company’s Machinery & Steel Structures headquarters at its main office in Tokyo, effective October 1.

The new unit aims to strengthen the company’s business development activities in the UAE, especially in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, the capital. MHI’s move focuses on Abu Dhabi’s initiative to develop new energies and establish 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.

Currently Abu Dhabi is vigorously promoting the “Masdar Initiative,” a strategic economic development programme with environmental and sustainability priorities which was established by the Crown Prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The newly established MHI office for the UAE will liaise with Masdar, a private joint stock company for promoting and implementing the Masdar Initiative, and other governmental offices; it will also conduct such activities as developing project response, preparation of joint-venture proposals, introduction of relevant technologies, and coordination tasks.

The new office will initially start with nine staff members: five on dedicated duty and the other four working concurrently on other assignments.

Opportunities for MHI
“Many business transactions and projects being planned or discussed in the UAE, including Abu Dhabi, relate to MHI products and technologies associated with its Machinery and Steel Structures headquarters. It is for that reason that the new unit is being established within the headquarters. However, other company units will also work closely with the new office, especially the Sustainability Energy & Environment Strategic Planning Department, Power Systems Headquarters and Air-Conditioning & Refrigeration Systems Headquarters,” an MHI statement said.

CCS-EOR, which MHI positions as an immediate project target, involves technologies enabling effective recovery of oil by injecting the oil layer with carbon dioxide, which is separated and recovered from flue gas emitted from power generation plants and other sources. Other products and technologies the company plans to propose include: Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) and light-rail transit (LRT) – key systems in next-generation transportation systems; infrastructure for next-generation transportation modes such as electric vehicles; renewable energy power generation systems, such as wind power and photovoltaic systems; and “Eco-Sky House,” a super-energy-saving next-generation residence in whose development MHI and its group companies are engaged.

With the establishment of its new business unit, MHI looks to explore business opportunities within the UAE, centered on Abu Dhabi, ever more proactively in the coming years.