Adnoc to hold 60% in Bab Gas Cap concession

Abu Dhabi has awarded state-run Adnoc and six international partners a concession to develop and produce gas from the Bab Gas Cap.

The project, around 150km southwest of Abu Dhabi City, is expected to have production capacity of 1.5 billion standard cubic feet per day of natural gas, representing almost 15 percent of Adnoc Gas’s operational gas-processing capacity. Adnoc Gas is a listed subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.

Under the concession agreement, Adnoc will hold a 60 percent participating interest, TotalEnergies and BP will each hold 10 percent, followed by CNPC International (8 percent), Jodco Onshore (5 percent), China ZhenHua Oil (4 percent), and Korea GS E&P (3 percent), the UAE state-run Wam news agency reported.

No financial details were disclosed.

The project is expected to contribute to the UAE’s gas self-sufficiency, support the continued development of the domestic petrochemicals sector and advance Adnoc’s plans to expand its liquefied natural gas export capacity.

Abu Dhabi’s Supreme Council for Financial and Economic Affairs, which announced the concession, sets public policy on financial, investment, economic, petroleum and natural resource issues for the emirate.

In May, Adnoc announced plans to award AED200 billion ($55 billion) in contracts during the next two years to support its upstream and downstream expansion.

The Emirati oil giant is also fast-tracking the construction of a pipeline that would allow it to double the amount of oil it exports without using the Strait of Hormuz.

The company already operates a 1.5 million barrels per day pipeline to the east coast, a lifeline for the UAE during the Iran war that began at the end of February.

The conflict has brought the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil supplies would typically flow, to a virtual standstill.

Further reading:

• Adnoc: Where molecules become money
• Oil supply may not recover for a year, says Adnoc exec
• Adnoc to speed up West-East pipeline construction