In February 2019, TradeArabia reported, citing a study by research and networking firm BNC, that the United Arab Emirates led the region in building new desalination capacity. Two reverse osmosis schemes accounted for AED 4.75 billion (1.3 billion USD): Taweelah in Abu Dhabi, scheduled for Q4 2022, and Jebel Ali in Dubai, targeted for the second quarter of 2020. The ten biggest projects across MENA added up to AED 19.3 billion, of which AED 5.6 billion were in Saudi Arabia.
The report showed how firmly Gulf states were then betting on reverse osmosis for large new builds; the figures came from an industry study released ahead of a trade conference in Abu Dhabi, not from the project owners.