UAE to spend $5 bln on onshore oil output hike by '16

UAE to spend $5 bln on onshore oil output hike by ’16

Foresees no drop in demand.

October 29, 2010 8:34 by Reuters

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) plans to spend $5 billion till 2016 to boost oil output from its onshore operations to 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd), a senior executive said on Thursday.

“We already spent $5 billion and we plan to spend another $5 billion to reach our 2016 objective,” Abdul Munim Saif al-Kindy, chief executive of ADNOC’s onshore operations unit ADCO, told reporters on the sidelines of a news conference.

The United Arab Emirates has set an overall target to increase its oil production capacity to 3.5 million bpd by 2018 from 2.7 million bpd.

ADCO’s current capacity is 1.4 million bpd, and to date it has produced around 13 billion barrels of crude.

The company plans to add 213,000 bpd by 2012 from existing, new reservoirs and new fields, Kindy told Reuters on Wednesday, adding the remaining 200,000 bpd increase would come from existing fields of Bab, Asab, Qusahwira and some smaller new fields.

Asked if he was concerned about demand for crude dwindling in the future, Kindy told reporters there was no shortage of demand foreseen in the future.

“If anything there is a shortage of supply,” he added.

The UAE, together with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, are among OPEC countries with spare capacity that can be added to the oil market as required.

(Reporting by Amena Bakr and Humeyra Pamuk)