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ADNOC Review
ADNOC: a safe pair of hands in
changing times Abu Dhabi’s state energy giant will play a pivotal role in the global energy transition, nurturing clean and sustainable technologies alongside the backbone of its traditional hydrocarbons output. Martin Clark reports. DNOC, THE ABU DHABi National Oil Company, continues to push hard as it expands and grows the UAE’s energy profile far and wide. The state-owned energy group, which has multiple subsidiaries, is already estimated to be the world’s 12th largest oil company by production – not bad for a country of just 10 million people. Its oil production capacity in 2021 exceeded four million bpd, though there are plans to grow this to five million by 2030, underlining confidence in future market demand. There is no doubt ADNOC has a big role to play as the world’s energy future shifts and is redefined by alternative energy sources and renewables. Like other Gulf states, the UAE will underpin demand during this transitional, uncertain time. While carbon capture and other green initiatives form a major part of the group’s present-day strategy, it is still a leading light in providing the essential fossil fuels required to keep the world’s economy ticking. Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, ADNOC’s managing director and CEO, as well as the UAE’s Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, told a conference recently that his nation wants to work on a pragmatic, realistic plan for energy transition and decarbonising, while investing in the new cleaner energies of tomorrow. “Yes, we must all commit to mitigating the impact of global energy supplies, but let’s keep our focus on capturing carbon – not cancelling production,” he told the Energy Intelligence Forum in London during early October. “Let’s hold back emissions, not progress.”
Let’s hold back emissions, not progress.”
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oilreview.me
Issue 7 2022
Image Credit: ADNOC
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ADNOC Drilling has won major contracts to expand oil and gas production.
Vital role in energy transition With COP27, the key climate change summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, just around the corner, the UAE is set to host the follow-up event, COP28 in late 2023. It underscores the UAE’s role in championing alternative energy sources, alongside its traditional oil and gas extraction industry. In 2009, Abu Dhabi was named as the world headquarters fo the newly-formed International Renewable Energy Agency. In the meantime, ADNOC is investing in greater production capacity of its signature crude, Murban – which has half the carbon intensity of the industry average – and tripling its liquefied natural gas (LNG) capacity to more than 15 million tonnes per annum (mtpa). This trade will be supported by a 9.6mtpa LNG production and shipping terminal in the
Emirate of Fujairah, a location which avoids transiting the narrow and congested Strait of Hormuz. Yet, there is a clear and obvious attempt to embed clean technology throughout the energy chain. ADNOC is using advanced technologies and renewable solar and nuclear energy to reduce the carbon intensity of its oil and gas output by a further 25% by the end of the decade, for instance. Milestones so far include the implementation of a zero routine gas flaring policy in the early 2000s and establishing the region’s first commercial-scale carbon capture and underground storage (CCS) facility in 2016. Looking ahead, it is also putting in place the building blocks to encourage hydrogen take up, as well as expanding the use of CCS systems.
