ADNOC looks to boost offshore oil production

April 23, 2015
Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) plans to invest more than $25 billion to lift production from its offshore fields over the next five years, according to a Reuters report.

Offshore staff

ABU DHABI, UAE – Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) plans to invest more than $25 billion to lift production from its offshore fields over the next five years, according to a Reuters report.

Current output is around 2.8 MMb/d.

“We want to build capacity from production and the number of wells and infrastructure,” said Qasem al-Kayoumi, manager of ADNOC’s offshore division of the exploration and production directorate. ADNOC’s current target is a sustained rate of 3.5 MMb/d, he explained.

In addition, al-Kayoumi said the company plans to allocate $2.5 billion/yr for offshore drilling activities, drilling around 160 wells annually over the next couple of years. “It is a considerable increase,” he acknowledged. “The number of rigs has built up considerably in offshore, it could be more than a 50% increase.”

Current production from theADMA-OPCO and ZADCO oil fields is 1.2 MMb/d and should rise to roughly 1.6 MMb/d in 2017-18, he added.

One of the main fields under development offshore Abu Dhabi isUpper Zakum. Here the plan is to increase production capacity to 750,000 b/d by 2017-18 and possibly to 1 MMb/d by 2024, Reuters reported.

Al-Kayoumi said ADMA-OPCO was preparing for the renewal of its offshore concession, due to expire in 2018.

04/23/2015