DOHA, May 6. /TASS/. Dana Gas, one of the largest gas producers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has signed an agreement with the British company Levidian to build a graphene production plant in Sharjah, The National newspaper reported.

As the newspaper notes, at the initial stage, the project will cost between $2 and $5 million, with subsequent expansion over two to four years potentially reaching $50 million. According to plans, once operational, the plant will be able to produce approximately 15 tons of graphene per year, a capacity the parties intend to achieve by the end of this year.

"We're hoping that, within the next couple of years, we're in the sort of hundreds of tons a year," Matthew Nix, head of corporate finance at Dana Gas in the Middle East, told the newspaper.

The newspaper notes that graphene produced in the UAE will be used in construction, energy, polymer and coating production, and other sectors. Natural gas is required for production, allowing for the efficient use of excess natural gas.

According to the analytical company Mordor Intelligence, the global graphene market could grow to $15 billion by 2031 from the current $2.9 billion.

Currently, its key producers are China, the United States, the Republic of Korea, Canada, and several European countries.

Graphene is a carbon structure one atom thick. It possesses unique properties: high strength, electrical conductivity, flexibility, and chemical stability. The material holds promise for the creation of ultra-powerful computers, biosensors, implants, and batteries.

The 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Russian-born scientists Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov for their discovery of graphene.