DUBAI, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) signed a development agreement with Spain's Cepsa for a new linear alkylbenzene (LAB) facility in ADNOC's refining and petrochemicals complex in Ruwais, ADNOC announced on Monday.

Through the LAB project with Cepsa, an oil and gas company owned by Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Investment Company, the ADNOC looks "to significantly enhance and expand its refining operations and capabilities to support its downstream plans," said the statement.

The agreement follows the signing last November of a Memorandum of Understanding between ADNOC and Cepsa to evaluate the setting up of a LAB facility in Ruwais in capital Abu Dhabi, the statement said.

After the successful completion of a feasibility study, the project is now ready to move to the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) stage, it said.

The facility is expected to have a production capacity of 150,000 tons per year of LAB upon completion, it added.

Alkybenzene are derivatives of benzene, a component used to produce gasoline.

Abdulaziz Al Hajri, downstream director at ADNOC, said "as we expand downstream and grow our refining capacity and capabilities, we will be able to expand the number of new products and value chains we can create."

Pedro Miro, CEO of Cepsa, said "the start-up of this complex underscores our commitment to continue developing our international operations as part of our integrated business model."