About $11 trillion (Dh40tn) of investment in oil and gas is needed to keep up with current demand, with the UAE on track to reach 4 million barrels per day production capacity by 2020, according to the group chief executive of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.
"Over three times the amount of energy currently consumed by all of Europe will be added to global energy demand in the next two decades," said Dr Sultan Al Jaber.
“We are on track to achieving our production capacity goals of 4 million barrels of oil per day by 2020 and 5 million by 2030. In parallel, by tapping into gas caps, undeveloped reservoirs and unconventional resources, we are unlocking vast reserves of natural gas,” he added.
He was speaking at the opening of the triennial World Energy Congress in Abu Dhabi.
The UAE produces 4.2 per cent of global oil production, according to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy, much of it from fields owned and operated by Adnoc. The UAE, which is compliant with a global pact to restrict production to balance the oil markets, produced 3 million bpd in July, according to secondary sources cited by Opec.
Dr Sultan said plans were underway to expand Adnoc’s carbon capture utilisation and storage programme, launched in 2018, by six-fold over the next decade.
“We produce among the least carbon-intensive barrels in the world. We lead the industry with the lowest methane intensity, and we are investing in technology that captures significant amounts of carbon dioxide from industrial sources,” he said.
The state oil company had earlier outlined plans to increase utilisation of CO2 to reach 250 million standard cubic feet per day by 2027. Current supplies of the green house gas are collected from Emirate Steel and injected into the Rumaitha and Bab oilfields to boost oil recovery. Adnoc plans to increase the oil recovery rate to 70 per cent from its reservoirs, which is twice the global average.
