ADNOC Begins Partnership Talks for Offshore Oil Concession

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ADNOC Begins Partnership Talks for Offshore Oil Concession

ADNOC Logo
ADNOC Logo

Abu Dhabi – State-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) announced on Monday it is in advanced discussions with more than a dozen potential partners who have expressed a significant interest in the offshore concession, currently operated by the Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company (ADMA-OPCO) that expires next March which dates back to 1953.

The current shareholders in Adma-Opco are BP with 14.67 per cent, Total with 13.33 per cent and Japan’s Jodco with 12 per cent. The Abu Dhabi Government, through Adnoc, has a 60 per cent holding and will retain it after the new concession.

The potential partners are a mix of existing concession holders in ADNOC’s offshore fields and new participants.
Recently, ADNOC unveiled the expansion of its strategic partnership model, as well as the active management of its portfolio of assets.

ADNOC’s new approach, which builds on its flexible and enhanced operating model as well as its 2030 growth strategy, will enable the company to unlock and maximize value from across the Group. It will deliver improved revenue streams and ensure smart growth, while also enhancing performance and securing greater access for ADNOC’s products in key growth markets.

ADNOC’s CEO Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber said in Monday's statement that the company was looking for partners to provide technology, expertise, long-term capital and market access, as well as operational efficiency and a willingness to invest in its different parts.

“As part of ADNOC’s new partnership approach, we look forward to working with partners who will bring new and innovative thinking to the table. Partners who can demonstrate tangible value-add to our operations through technology, expertise, long term capital and market access, as well as a shared commitment to drive operational performance and efficiency to deliver smart growth and strong financial returns. Our ideal partners should also be willing to invest across different parts of our value chain” Jaber added.

As ADNOC looks to boost oil production capacity to 3.5m bpd in 2018, offshore development is a strategic focus of the company. Current ADMA-OPCO concession produces around 700,000 barrels per day of oil and is projected to have a capacity of about one million bpd by 2021.

In its gas business, ADNOC will develop a variety of natural gas sources, including tapping into gas caps and undeveloped deep and sour gas reserves. ADNOC aims to stretch the margin of each refined barrel of oil and expand petrochemical production from 4.5 to 11.4 mtpa by 2025.



China Launches Late Stimulus Push to Meet 2024 Growth Target

FILE PHOTO: A worker works on a building under construction in Beijing's Central Business District (CBD), China July 14, 2024. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A worker works on a building under construction in Beijing's Central Business District (CBD), China July 14, 2024. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo
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China Launches Late Stimulus Push to Meet 2024 Growth Target

FILE PHOTO: A worker works on a building under construction in Beijing's Central Business District (CBD), China July 14, 2024. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A worker works on a building under construction in Beijing's Central Business District (CBD), China July 14, 2024. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo

China's central bank on Friday lowered interest rates and injected liquidity into the banking system as Beijing assembled a last-ditch stimulus assault to pull economic growth back towards this year's roughly 5% target, Reuters reported.
More fiscal measures are expected to be announced before China's week-long holidays starting on Oct. 1, after a meeting of the Communist Party's top leaders showed an increased sense of urgency about mounting economic headwinds.
On the heels of the Politburo huddle, China plans to issue special sovereign bonds worth about 2 trillion yuan ($284.43 billion) this year as part of fresh fiscal stimulus, two sources with knowledge of the matter have told Reuters.
Capital Economics chief Asia Economist Mark Williams estimates the package "would lift annual output by 0.4% relative to what it would otherwise have been."
"It's late in the year, but a new package of this size that was implemented soon should be enough to deliver growth in line with the 'around 5%' target," he said.
Chinese stocks are on track for the best week since 2008 on stimulus expectations.
The world's second-largest economy faces strong deflationary pressures due to a sharp property market downturn and frail consumer confidence, which have exposed its over-reliance on exports in an increasingly tense global trade environment.
A wide range of economic data in recent months has missed forecasts, raising concerns among economists that the growth target was at risk and that a longer-term structural slowdown could be in play.
On Friday, data showed industrial profits swinging back to a sharp contraction in August.
"We believe the persistent growth weakness has hit policymakers' pain threshold," Goldman Sachs analysts said in a note.
As flagged on Tuesday by Governor Pan Gongsheng, the People's Bank of China on Friday trimmed the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves, known as the reserve requirement ratio (RRR), by 50 basis points, the second such reduction this year.
The move is expected to release 1 trillion yuan ($142.5 billion) in liquidity into the banking system and was accompanied by a cut in the benchmark interest rate on seven-day reverse repurchase agreements by 20 bps to 1.50%. The cuts take effect on Friday and Pan, in rare forward-looking remarks, left the door open to another RRR reduction later this year.

Given weak credit demand from households and businesses, investors are more focused on the fiscal measures that are widely expected to be announced in coming days.
Reuters reported on Thursday that 1 trillion yuan due to be raised via special bonds will be used to increase subsidies for a consumer goods replacement program and for the upgrade of large-scale business equipment.
They will also be used to provide a monthly allowance of about 800 yuan, or $114, per child to all households with two or more children, excluding the first child.
China aims to raise another 1 trillion yuan via a separate special sovereign debt issuance to help local governments tackle their debt problems.
Bloomberg News reported on Thursday that China is also considering the injection up to 1 trillion yuan of capital into its biggest state banks.
Most of China's fiscal stimulus still goes into investment, but returns are dwindling and the spending has saddled local governments with $13 trillion in debt.
The looming fiscal measures would mark a slight shift towards stimulating consumption, a direction Beijing has said for more than a decade that it wants to take but has made little progress on.
China's household spending is less than 40% of annual economic output, some 20 percentage points below the global average. Investment, by comparison, is 20 points above but has been fueling much more debt than growth.
The politburo also pledged to stabilize the troubled real estate market, saying the government should expand a white list of housing projects that can receive further financing and revitalize idle land.
The September meeting is not usually a forum for discussing the economy, which suggests growing anxiety among officials.
"The 'shock and awe' strategy could be meant to jumpstart the markets and boost confidence," Nomura analysts said in a note.
"But eventually it is still necessary for Beijing to introduce well thought policies to address many of the deep-rooted problems, particularly regarding how to stabilize the property sector."