Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and Royal Dutch Shell have signed a preliminary agreement to explore offshore for gas in Abu Dhabi in a development that could unlock significant new fuel supplies for the Gulf region's burgeoning industrial and power sectors.
If finalised, the deal would be Shell's first in decades in the UAE's upstream oil and gas industry. Announced yesterday, on the eve of the region's biggest oil and gas exhibition and conference, it could also signify an important shift in government energy policy towards a greater degree of collaboration with foreign partners.
The agreement may also amount to an admission by state-owned Adnoc that it needs to do more to develop energy supplies to satisfy surging domestic and regional needs.
One possible new source of gas - a fuel in short supply in every Gulf state except Qatar - could be large undiscovered deposits lying deeply buried beneath Gulf oil fields. A search for such deposits off Qatar and Iran led to the discovery of the world's biggest gas field, North Field-South Pars, which the two countries share.
An agreement to search for such gas "plays to our interests and technical capabilities", Malcolm Brinded, Shell's executive director of exploration and production, said yesterday on the sidelines of the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference.
He said Abu Dhabi's deep offshore gas deposits, if they existed, were most likely to be "tight gas", locked in fine-grained rock formations.
Producing tight gas is one of Shell's technical specialities. In the Gulf region, the company is involved in such projects in Oman. This summer, it added significant tight gas reserves to its global portfolio with the acquisition of Canada's Duvernay Oil for 5.3 billion Canadian dollars (Dh16.29bn).
But as well as being technically challenging, tight gas development requires large capital investment. That makes the UAE, with its robust financial resources, one of the best countries in the world in which to pursue such projects in the long term.
Shell's most recent energy forecasts show that by 2035 the Middle East's annual energy demand could be 130 per cent higher than in 2000, when the region consumed the equivalent of 8 million barrels per day of oil, Mr Brinded told the conference.
"Delivering all this extra energy will require huge financial investment," he said. "If there is one part of the world that can do it, it is the Middle East."
Without significant investment in new gas projects, the region's energy crunch is likely to worsen.
In terms of unmet global demand, "gas is the number one energy source", Ibrahim al Ansari, the general manager of Dolphin Energy, said yesterday. He said he doubted that the recent erosion of global oil demand would contribute to any softening of markets for liquefied natural gas (LNG). That, in turn, would make Qatar, the world's biggest LNG exporter, unlikely to supply more gas to Dolphin.
The Abu Dhabi company supplies about 2 billion cubic feet per day (cfd) of Qatari gas, shipped through an undersea pipeline to customers in the UAE and Oman. Its efforts to persuade Qatar to increase the pipeline's throughput to its full 3.2 billion cfd capacity have been unsuccessful.
Adnoc declined at a press conference yesterday to provide details of its "memorandum of understanding" with Shell. Earlier in the day, however, Ali al Jarwan, the general manager of Adnoc, chaired a conference session at which senior executives of the major international oil companies - Shell and BP, and Schlumberger, the world's biggest oil-field services company - called for international co-operation to stimulate oil and gas development worldwide.
Without that, "another upwards spike" in oil prices could quickly emerge when the global economy recovered, said Tony Hayward, the chief executive of BP. "It is the global market which keeps the energy flowing," he said.
Shell's association with Adnoc dates back to the 1970s when Adnoc formed partnerships with several foreign oil companies to produce oil and gas in Abu Dhabi. However, until Sunday Shell had failed to win any further deals with Adnoc. Earlier this year, it was passed over in favour of ConocoPhillips for a multibillion US dollar project to develop Abu Dhabi's Shah sour gas field.
However, Shell has made significant recent progress in advancing its gas business in other parts of the Gulf. This summer, it signed a preliminary agreement with Iraq to capture and market gas produced from big oil fields in that country.
tcarlisle@thenational.ae
Premier Futsal 2017 Finals
Al Wasl Football Club; six teams, five-a-side
Delhi Dragons: Ronaldinho
Bengaluru Royals: Paul Scholes
Mumbai Warriors: Ryan Giggs
Chennai Ginghams: Hernan Crespo
Telugu Tigers: Deco
Kerala Cobras: Michel Salgado
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
The Bio
Favourite place in UAE: Al Rams pearling village
What one book should everyone read: Any book written before electricity was invented. When a writer willingly worked under candlelight, you know he/she had a real passion for their craft
Your favourite type of pearl: All of them. No pearl looks the same and each carries its own unique characteristics, like humans
Best time to swim in the sea: When there is enough light to see beneath the surface
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
WHY%20AAYAN%20IS%20'PERFECT%20EXAMPLE'
%3Cp%3EDavid%20White%20might%20be%20new%20to%20the%20country%2C%20but%20he%20has%20clearly%20already%20built%20up%20an%20affinity%20with%20the%20place.%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3EAfter%20the%20UAE%20shocked%20Pakistan%20in%20the%20semi-final%20of%20the%20Under%2019%20Asia%20Cup%20last%20month%2C%20White%20was%20hugged%20on%20the%20field%20by%20Aayan%20Khan%2C%20the%20team%E2%80%99s%20captain.%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3EWhite%20suggests%20that%20was%20more%20a%20sign%20of%20Aayan%E2%80%99s%20amiability%20than%20anything%20else.%20But%20he%20believes%20the%20young%20all-rounder%2C%20who%20was%20part%20of%20the%20winning%20Gulf%20Giants%20team%20last%20year%2C%20is%20just%20the%20sort%20of%20player%20the%20country%20should%20be%20seeking%20to%20produce%20via%20the%20ILT20.%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%9CHe%20is%20a%20delightful%20young%20man%2C%E2%80%9D%20White%20said.%20%E2%80%9CHe%20played%20in%20the%20competition%20last%20year%20at%2017%2C%20and%20look%20at%20his%20development%20from%20there%20till%20now%2C%20and%20where%20he%20is%20representing%20the%20UAE.%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%9CHe%20was%20influential%20in%20the%20U19%20team%20which%20beat%20Pakistan.%20He%20is%20the%20perfect%20example%20of%20what%20we%20are%20all%20trying%20to%20achieve%20here.%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%9CIt%20is%20about%20the%20development%20of%20players%20who%20are%20going%20to%20represent%20the%20UAE%20and%20go%20on%20to%20help%20make%20UAE%20a%20force%20in%20world%20cricket.%E2%80%9D%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The Bio
Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”
Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”
Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”
Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
What is tokenisation?
Tokenisation refers to the issuance of a blockchain token, which represents a virtually tradable real, tangible asset. A tokenised asset is easily transferable, offers good liquidity, returns and is easily traded on the secondary markets.
The specs: 2019 Audi A7 Sportback
Price, base: Dh315,000
Engine: 3.0-litre V6
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 335hp @ 5,000rpm
Torque: 500Nm @ 1,370rpm
Fuel economy 5.9L / 100km
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Globalization and its Discontents Revisited
Joseph E. Stiglitz
W. W. Norton & Company
The biog
Title: General Practitioner with a speciality in cardiology
Previous jobs: Worked in well-known hospitals Jaslok and Breach Candy in Mumbai, India
Education: Medical degree from the Government Medical College in Nagpur
How it all began: opened his first clinic in Ajman in 1993
Family: a 90-year-old mother, wife and two daughters
Remembers a time when medicines from India were purchased per kilo
What to watch out for:
Algae, waste coffee grounds and orange peels will be used in the pavilion's walls and gangways
The hulls of three ships will be used for the roof
The hulls will painted to make the largest Italian tricolour in the country’s history
Several pillars more than 20 metres high will support the structure
Roughly 15 tonnes of steel will be used
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
THE LOWDOWN
Romeo Akbar Walter
Rating: 2/5 stars
Produced by: Dharma Productions, Azure Entertainment
Directed by: Robby Grewal
Cast: John Abraham, Mouni Roy, Jackie Shroff and Sikandar Kher
