Organisers of Adipec, Abu Dhabi’s big annual oil gathering, expect record attendance next month, despite the worldwide industry slump.
“I know it bucks the trend of oil conferences, but we’re expecting record numbers across the board,” said Jean-Philippe Cossé, a director at DMG Events, part of the UK’s Daily Mail Group, which runs the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition & Conference (Adipec).
The show is traditionally an opportunity to secure deals and has attracted oil ministers, top state oil company bureaucrats and international oil company chiefs over the past three decades. Last year, a record US$8.5 billion of deals were signed at Adipec, up 70 per cent from the previous year, according to DMG’s data.
Despite sharp cuts elsewhere, oil industry spending is holding up in the region, Mr Cossé said.
Fareed Abdulla, a senior executive at Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Petroleum Operations (Adco), concurred, noting that the $7bn planned investment on Adco’s 15 main onshore fields, aimed at raising production 12.5 per cent to 1.8 million barrels per day by the end of 2017, is on track.
After last year’s Adipec, Adco awarded a $2.25bn contract to Italy’s Maire Tecnimont on its North East Bab development, which Mr Abdulla leads. And there are many other contracts to compete for, especially offshore.
“The offshore environment is very challenging and we are trying to develop Adnoc Group’s surface capabilities and work with local and international service providers to see how we can increase our footprint in these technologies,” said Ali Al Shamsi, the co-chair of the conference and head of strategy at Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc).
Adnoc and its partners are spending $25bn to develop offshore production capacity, hoping to add 300,000 bpd by the end of 2018 to bring it to 1.7 million bpd.
Adipec is scheduled to open on November 9 and Mr Cossé forecasts attendance of about 85,000, a rise of 12 per cent from last year.
That is despite the recession in the industry amid the oil price collapse.
Companies worldwide have cut thousands of workers from their payrolls and capital spending budgets have also been slashed.
amcauley@thenational.ae
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