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29 March 2024

UAE plans mega projects to lift oil capacity

Published
By Nadim Kawach

(REUTERS)   

 
  

The UAE is pushing ahead with mega projects to lift its oil capacity above five million barrels per day within six years and maintain its position as one of the world’s top crude suppliers, an official report said on Tuesday.

 

A surge in its petrodollar income has encouraged the country to step up hydrocarbon projects, which also involve gas, refining and petrochemicals, the UAE National Media Council said in its 2008 Yearbook.

 

Citing official oil statistics, the Yearbook estimated the UAE’s present crude production capacity at around 2.9 million barrels per day.

 

“The UAE has plans to raise its oil production capacity to 3.5 million bpd by 2009 and to more than five million bpd by 2014,” it said.

 

A large part of the increase would come from Umm Shaif and Upper and Lower Zakum fields, it said.

 

Abu Dhabi has already awarded contract to foreign companies to develop its oilfields within long-term plans to expand capacity.

 

The Yearbook gave no figures on investments but independent industry sources put spending on the hydrocarbon sector at more than $10 billion (Dh36.7bn) in the next five years. Investments have exceeded $15bn over the past decade. The UAE is producing around 2.5 million bpd, much lower than its sustainable capacity, under an output agreement by Opec.

 

Its proven oil reserves stood at 97.8 billion barrels at the end of 2007, including 92 billion in Abu Dhabi. The country’s gas resources were estimated at 6.5 trillion cubic metres, the fifth largest after Russia, Iran, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.