Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., the United Arab Emirates’ state-owned crude producer, will award onshore oilfield service contracts in 2012 as part of a $10 billion program to boost output 30 percent by 2017.

Abu Dhabi Co. for Onshore Oil Operations, the onshore unit of Abu Dhabi National known as Adco, is on track to raise output by 400,000 barrels a day to 1.8 million barrels a day, according to the company’s chief executive officer.
“We hope to add 213,000 barrels a day by 2012, which will come from new reservoirs and new fields,” Abdul Munim Saif al- Kindy said in an Oct. 19 telephone interview from Abu Dhabi. “The rest, some 200,000 barrels a day, will come from increasing production from existing fields of Bab, Asab and Qusahwira, for which we plan to award related projects starting 2012.”
The U.A.E. is going ahead with its plans to boost onshore output even after the financial crisis reduced oil demand in 2008 and 2009, the first two consecutive years of declining consumption since the 1980s, which forced the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to make a record output cut to support prices.
During 2008 and 2009, global oil demand fell by a combined 1.7 million barrels a day, or about 2 percent, according to the October monthly market report from the International Energy Agency. By awarding contracts during the slump, Abu Dhabi saved at least 30 percent in equipment costs, al-Kindy said.
----------------Capacity increase
Abu Dhabi, which holds more than 90 percent of the country’s oil reserves, aims to boost total capacity to 3.5 million barrels a day from about 2.8 million now by developing offshore fields operated by other units of Abu Dhabi National, which owns 60 percent of Adco. Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Total SA, Exxon Mobil Corp., BP Plc and Partex hold the rest.
Abu Dhabi National expects to spend about $50 billion to $60 billion in the next decade as more capacity is developed, al-Kindy said. The new oil capacity will require more drilling and exploration to sustain that level, leading to a growth in rigs and other oilfield services, and the additional gas produced in association with oil will lead to expansions in petrochemical and fertilizer plants, he said.
(Source: Bloomberg)