Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) is preparing to pump more crude after curbing output for more than a year to comply with OPEC cuts. "This year we all know there will be an increase in production," said Asim al Zarouni, the drilling manager of the Abu Dhabi Government-owned oil company.
"It is no secret that the big OPEC countries are increasing their production," he told reporters on the sidelines of the annual DrillTech conference in Abu Dhabi, which ends today. His comments came just nine days before OPEC ministers are due to meet in Vienna. To prepare for higher production levels, ADNOC will expand its drilling activities this year, employing 34 or 35 rigs instead of the 30 rigs it has used for the past two years.
Despite a big drop in global oil demand last year as the recession bit, ADNOC did not idle any of its rigs. "We don't release rigs. We actually are under-supplied with rigs. We need more," Mr al Zarouni said. ADNOC obtains most of the rigs it uses from its wholly owned oilfield services unit National Drilling Company, but also leases rigs from other contractors. Mr al Zarouni said ADNOC planned to boost its oil production capacity by about 30 per cent "in stages", which is consistent with the company's previously stated goal of raising capacity to 3.5 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2019.
ADNOC's crude accounts for more than 95 per cent of total UAE oil production, which approached 3 million bpd before OPEC announced record cuts to its target output in late 2008. The oil exporters' organisation, which controls 40 per cent of global oil supplies, cut production in response to crude's steep slide from the record $147 per barrel reached in July of that year. Most of ADNOC's drilling will be directed towards managing its existing oil reservoirs and optimising their output. The company continues to drill appraisal wells, however, to refine its estimates of oil and gas reserves. It also explores for deposits that may have been overlooked. "Maybe we have discovered all the giants, but there are still small fields to be discovered," Mr al Zarouni said.
"Sometimes we have discoveries in the same fields where we produce oil, because some of those fields are very complex and have many [geological] horizons." About 75 per cent of ADNOC's drilling activity is currently related to oil, and 25 per cent to gas, he added. The oil output capacity of the UAE and other OPEC countries could continue rising for decades. "We are still very far from the peak," he said.
Nevertheless, maintaining or increasing production through the development of new fields, or by applying more advanced technology to existing reservoirs to squeeze out more oil, is likely to require more drilling than in the past. That is because oil producers are now starting to develop so-called "non-conventional deposits" that are challenging to exploit economically, as well as tapping deeper reserves.
They are also turning to complex computerised reservoir models to help optimise output, creating a greater need for service wells to adjust oil flows, correct problems with producing wells and collect data. "Drilling activities will increase significantly in the next decade to sustain production and increase reserves," Mr al Zarouni told the DrillTech conference. The total number of metres drilled in oil-related activities in the next decade could exceed the corresponding total for the past 50 years, he predicted.
OPEC ministers are scheduled to meet on Wednesday of next week to decide whether to revise the group's output target, which has remained unchanged since the end of 2008. Most officials of the organisation speaking ahead of the meeting have suggested a change is unlikely. Although the world remains oversupplied with oil, as major industrialised economies struggle to emerge from recession, crude prices have more than doubled in the past year.
In New York yesterday, crude rose to a two-month high above $82 per barrel on improving economic sentiment. @Email:tcarlisle@thenational.ae
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl, 48V hybrid
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 325bhp
Torque: 450Nm
Price: Dh359,000
On sale: now
How to get there
Emirates (www.emirates.com) flies directly to Hanoi, Vietnam, with fares starting from around Dh2,725 return, while Etihad (www.etihad.com) fares cost about Dh2,213 return with a stop. Chuong is 25 kilometres south of Hanoi.
Company%20Profile
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Ramy%3A%20Season%203%2C%20Episode%201
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HER%20FIRST%20PALESTINIAN
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The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre 6-cyl turbo
Power: 374hp at 5,500-6,500rpm
Torque: 500Nm from 1,900-5,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.5L/100km
Price: from Dh285,000
On sale: from January 2022
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.”
RESULTS
2pm: Maiden Dh 60,000 (Dirt) 1,400m. Winner: Masaali, Pat Dobbs (jockey), Doug Watson (trainer).
2.30pm: Handicap Dh 76,000 (D) 1,400m. Winner: Almoreb, Dane O’Neill, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
3pm: Handicap Dh 64,000 (D) 1,200m. Winner: Imprison, Fabrice Veron, Rashed Bouresly.
3.30pm: Shadwell Farm Conditions Dh 100,000 (D) 1,000m. Winner: Raahy, Adrie de Vries, Jaber Ramadhan.
4pm: Maiden Dh 60,000 (D) 1,000m. Winner: Cross The Ocean, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
4.30pm: Handicap 64,000 (D) 1,950m. Winner: Sa’Ada, Fernando Jara, Ahmad bin Harmash.
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
What is graphene?
Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.
It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.
It conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature.
It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.
Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease.
The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.
Spider-Man%202
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More from Neighbourhood Watch:
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
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
The alternatives
• Founded in 2014, Telr is a payment aggregator and gateway with an office in Silicon Oasis. It’s e-commerce entry plan costs Dh349 monthly (plus VAT). QR codes direct customers to an online payment page and merchants can generate payments through messaging apps.
• Business Bay’s Pallapay claims 40,000-plus active merchants who can invoice customers and receive payment by card. Fees range from 1.99 per cent plus Dh1 per transaction depending on payment method and location, such as online or via UAE mobile.
• Tap started in May 2013 in Kuwait, allowing Middle East businesses to bill, accept, receive and make payments online “easier, faster and smoother” via goSell and goCollect. It supports more than 10,000 merchants. Monthly fees range from US$65-100, plus card charges of 2.75-3.75 per cent and Dh1.2 per sale.
• 2checkout’s “all-in-one payment gateway and merchant account” accepts payments in 200-plus markets for 2.4-3.9 per cent, plus a Dh1.2-Dh1.8 currency conversion charge. The US provider processes online shop and mobile transactions and has 17,000-plus active digital commerce users.
• PayPal is probably the best-known online goods payment method - usually used for eBay purchases - but can be used to receive funds, providing everyone’s signed up. Costs from 2.9 per cent plus Dh1.2 per transaction.
The bio
Job: Coder, website designer and chief executive, Trinet solutions
School: Year 8 pupil at Elite English School in Abu Hail, Deira
Role Models: Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk
Dream City: San Francisco
Hometown: Dubai
City of birth: Thiruvilla, Kerala
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
