Abu Dhabi’s oil sector peaks in 2011

Higher crude prices along with an increase in production boosted Abu Dhabi’s hydrocarbon sector to its highest level in 2011, maintaining its dominance in the emirate’s GDP, according to official data.

The sector’s value added leaped by nearly 53 per cent to a record high of around Dh471.8 billion in 2011 from Dh291.5 billion in 2010, showed the figures by the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development.

Compared to 2006, the oil sector grew at an annual rate of10.1 per cent because of a rapid rise in crude prices in most years during that period.

“This dramatic rise was attributed mainly to the increase in oil prices  and the emirate’s crude output,” DED said in its annual report.

The surge in value added, defined as the sum of the unit profit, the unit depreciation cost, and the unit labor cost, boosted the hydrocarbon’s sector’s share of GDP to one of its highest levels of 58.5 per cent in 2011.

The report said crude prices jumped by nearly 50 per cent to $107.4 a barrel in 2011 from $77.4 in 2010. It did not mention Abu Dhabi’s oil output but industry sources estimated it at around 2.5 million barrels per day.

The figures showed the total fixed capital formation (investment) in the hydrocarbon industry shot up from around Dh7.8 billion in 2006 to Dh 48.8 billion in 2011 at an annual growth rate of  44 per cent. It swelled by 11.6 per cent in 2011.

Turning to non-hydrocarbon industries, the report estimated the sector’s value added  at around Dh40.5 billion in 2011 compared with Dh32.9 billion in 2006.

“The manufacturing activity is one of the vital economic sectors in the Emirate…Abu Dhabi Vision 2030  focuses on the activity as an engine for diversifying the economic structure of the emirate, by investing in competitive industries,” it said.

Total fixed capital formation in the manufacturing sector soared from around Dh9.6 billion in 2006 to Dh34.4 billion in 2011, an annual growth of 29 per cent.

“This was attributed  to  the investment boom witnessed by the activity during that  period, when many giant industries were  established, mainly ‘EMAL’ aluminum smelter and Strata aero structures manufacturing plant in Abu Dhabi.”

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