The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) signed on Sunday two partnership agreements with Italy’s Eni and Austria’s OMV in refining and trading.
Under the agreement, Eni and OMV will respectively acquire a 20 percent and a 15 percent share in ADNOC Refining, and ADNOC will retain its 65 percent share.
ADNOC is expected to receive an estimated total of AED21.3 bn ($5.8bn) from this agreement.
Both agreements were signed in the presence of Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Austria's Minister of Finance Hartwig Loger.
"This strategic partnership contributes to establishing UAE's leading position as an integrated global energy hub with operations and expertise covering various phases and aspects of oil and gas sectors, starting from extraction and reaching advanced industries in refining, derivatives and petrochemicals," said Sheikh Mohammed.
He pointed out the importance of expanding strategic partnerships and attracting foreign investments, which support the country's strategy for economic diversification.
Sheikh Mohammed added that the UAE has become a preferred investment destination for global strategic partners, who are attracted by the country's stable and secure economic environment, world-class infrastructure and investment-supporting laws and legislations.
The agreement values ADNOC Refining, which has a total refining capacity of 922,000 barrels per day, and which operates the fourth largest single site refinery in the world, at an enterprise value of $19.3 billion.
Eni and OMV have strong track records in maximizing value from advanced, complex refinery operations and bring to the partnership extensive operational and project management experience and expertise.
Further value will be created from the new global trading joint venture, which, once established, will be an international exporter of ADNOC Refining’s products, with export volumes equivalent to approximately 70 percent of throughput.
“We are delighted to partner with Eni and OMV in our refining business and the new trading company,” noted UAE Minister of State and CEO ADNOC Group Dr. Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber.
He said such partnerships “follow UAE leadership’s wise guidance to unlock and drive greater value across our business.”
“These innovative partnerships will support our ambition of becoming an international downstream leader with the flexibility to respond quickly to shifting market needs and dynamics.”
“They will help enable our objective of unlocking even more value from every barrel of oil we produce,” he stressed.
