Adnoc to cut capacity expansion projects

Adnoc is looking at ways to slow capacity expansion projects in order to cut costs, as oil prices and demand falls.

Declining oil prices and slowing growth in demand are forcing the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) to look at ways to slow capacity expansion projects in order to cut costs, the company's deputy chief executive, Abdullah Nasser al Suweidi, said today. "Where we can wait, we'll wait," he said on the sidelines of the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference.

"But our main objectives and plans are not affected because of the need to sustain out production and go ahead with it." The company's goal of expanding production capacity to 3.5 million barrels per day (bpd) was now a 10-year project, he said. In 2005, Mohammed bin Dha'en al Hamli, the energy minister, said the UAE would reach 3.5 million bpd in "the next few years". Yousef Omair bin Yousef, the Adnoc chief executive went further at the time, saying the emirate would produce 4 million bpd by 2015.

Mr Suweidi emphasised that Adnoc would stick to its long term expansion plans despite the cost challenges. He said that Adnoc's current production capacity was 2.8 million bpd. Over 150,000 bpd are currently offline due to maintenance to offshore fields, but that capacity will be restored by December, he said. The company was now producing about 2.5 million bpd, he said. The first two projects to come on stream in 2013 or 2014 as part of the expansion project will be the offshore integrated gas development and the onshore Sahil-Asab-Shah (SAS) project, according to Ali al Shamsi, the company's onshore division manager. [e-mail]