Abu Dhabi: Suhail Bin Mohammad Faraj Faris Al Mazroui, Minister of Energy, has revealed that Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has so far invested $70 billion (Dh257 billion) to develop new oil and gasfields and to boost the current output capacity of the UAE to 3.5 million barrels per day by 2017.

“The Shah Gas Project is on track to commence production in 2014. ... The Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (ADCO) is set to augment its oil production capacity from the current 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd) to 1.8 million bpd by 2017,” the minister said in an interview with the Emirates News Agency (WAM) on the eve of the three-day Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC).

On how the UAE will meet the exponential demand for gas required by industry, water and electricity projects, Al Mazroui said the UAE was planning a raft of projects under its national strategy to diversify the energy mix as the liquefied natural gas (LNG) production is enough to meet 50 per cent of the local demand while the remaining 50 per cent was imported.

“We expect to develop new gasfields and launch new projects to import LNG. These projects include the awarding of a contract for the Emirates LNG project in Fujairah by the end of 2014 or early 2015.”

Developed by the Abu Dhabi-based companies Mubadala Petroleum (Mubadala), the project, the largest of its kind in the region, was designed on the concept of land-based re-gasification and storage terminal with a total capacity of 9 million tonnes per year (t/y) of LNG.

Speaking about the latest developments in the world oil market, the minister said the average oil prices that have been persisting over the past four years seemed balanced and suitable to both producers and consumers and could stimulate investment in output capacity in order to meet the growing demand.

Answering a question about the threat that the shale oil could pose to conventional oil and gas industry, particularly to the Opec member states, the minister said, “We don’t see any potential threat of the shale oil usage as producers, given the high production cost of this fuel in comparison with that of the conventional oil. On the contrary, we think these new discoveries will help strike a balance in the supply-demand equation and in reaching a fair price in favour of producers.”

On the possibility of the UAE’s import of shale gas from the US to satisfy its gas thirst, the Minister of Energy said, “The UAE is considering import of gas from several LNQ markets. However, we believe that our policy to diversify LNQ import markets will continue. As the shale gas remains one of our promising supply options, it could constitute a proportion of our gas import bill in the future.”

Source: Gulf News