CONOCOPHILLIPS, the third-largest United States oil company, has won a contract to develop a sour-gas project in the United Arab Emirates as the Middle Eastern nation seeks to meet power demand.

ConocoPhillips will hold a 40-percent stake in the Shah field, while state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Co, known as Adnoc, will own the rest, the Abu Dhabi-based company said yesterday.

The partners will share the cost of developing the deposit, Adnoc said, without disclosing financial terms or the time frame for implementing the project.

Abu Dhabi, capital of the UAE, plans to develop its high-sulfur reserves, known as sour gas, to meet accelerating electricity demand as it takes advantage of record oil prices to build offices, tourist attractions, roads and airports.

Power consumption in Abu Dhabi may double to 16 gigawatts in the next six years, according to Steve Geiger, head of special projects at Abu Dhabi Future Energy Co, the state renewable-energy company.

Adnoc signed the agreement with Houston-based ConocoPhillips after considering bids from companies, including Exxon Mobil Corp, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Occidental Petroleum Corp.

The project involves construction of several gas-gathering systems and plants to process 1 billion cubic feet a day of sour gas into 570 million cubic feet a day of network gas, according to the statement. ConocoPhillips and Adnoc will also set up sulfur-exporting facilities at Ruwais, which houses one of the emirate's biggest oil refineries.

The UAE, holder of the world's fifth-biggest natural-gas reserves, began importing the fuel last year from Qatar because most of its own supplies are too high in sulfur and too costly to develop. The country holds 215 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News.

ConocoPhillips and Adnoc expect to conclude an agreement on the project by the end of this year.