Middle East: UAE - Abu Dhabi

MIDDLE EAST

Dr. A. F. Alhajji, Contributing Editor, Boulder, Colorado

UAE – Abu Dhabi

Diversification, economic reform and higher oil revenues have contributed to a spectacular economic performance. The economy grew 9.5% and 10.5% in 1999 and 2000, respectively.

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Last May, Enron Corp. relinquished its stake in Dolphin Energy (DEL), because of a low profit margin. DEL has been owned by UAE Offsets Group (UOG, 51%), TotalFinaElf (24.5%) and Enron (24.5%). Enron was responsible for building gas pipelines, marketing and management. At the same time, DEL invited companies to pre-qualify for five contracts related to future supply of gas from Qatar to the UAE

Drilling / development. The number of wells drilled decreased 12.5% last year. Because of higher oil prices, a higher OPEC quota, and increased emphasis on gas and offshore drilling, the number of wells drilled is expected to increase 18.4% this year. The number of onshore wells drilled is expected to increase 7%.

Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (ADCO) plans to increase production from Rumaitha and Al-Dabbiyah fields to 100,000 bopd through installation of a gas lift system, water injection facilities and related works. International companies were invited to submit bids to carry out front-end engineering and design work for the upgrade.

Late last year, ADNOC signed a $260-million offshore engineering, procurement and construction contract with ABB Lummus and National Petroleum Construction Co. for the $1-billion Khuff gas project. It involves installation of a new gas gathering network and a new gas processing platform, to enhance the sustainable flowrate of new and existing facilities to 540 MMcfgd from current capacity of 300 MMcfgd.

Zakum Development Co. (Zadco) plans to increase production from its offshore Zakum field to 600,000 bopd from the current 420,000 bopd by 2005. Gas re-injection started earlier this year, to maintain pressure and increase production.

Production. At the beginning of this year, Abu Dhabi Marine Operating company (ADMA-OPCO) commissioned a new 30-in., 57-mi (92-km) oil pipeline, joining Zakum field to Das Island. Corrosion in the old pipeline forced construction of the new one to maintain production capacity.

Oil production in 2001 increased in accordance with the OPEC quota by 7.5%, to 2.1 million bpd. Recent data indicate that Abu Dhabi is producing about 120,000 bopd above its OPEC quota.