Abu Dhabi: Oil and gas company, Total, said that it had submitted a very strong bid for the Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (Adco)’s tender to renew the onshore oil concessions as the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Conference and Exhibition (Adipec 2014) ended on Thursday.
Thousands of people attended the four day event held at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Company (Adnec).
Arnaud Breuillac, President of Exploration & Production said the company is ready to support Abu Dhabi in achieving its future oil and gas production targets.
“Total was born in the Middle East 90 years ago and we have been present in Abu Dhabi since 1939,” Breuillac said. “We cannot imagine not being here, and so naturally we hope to continue building on that relationship and maintain our large asset base.”
He said the company would not be blown off course by the current low oil price, which he said is a temporary fluctuation rather than an indefinite trend.
While stressing that the group’s existing investments globally would not be adversely affected, he said lower oil prices vindicated its earlier decision to implement appropriate capital and operating cost-cutting measures.
Apart from Total, a number of other companies are eagerly awaiting the decision of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) on concessions. Decades-old agreement with Adnoc on oil production ended this year. Adnoc said that it might take a couple of months before it takes a decision. Asian and Western companies are in the competition to win the bids.
Other topics that dominated the discussions include sliding oil prices, shale gas revolution and the current status of UAE oil projects. The UAE has pledged to increase the oil production to 3.5 million barrels per day from the present output of around 2.8 million barrels per day by 2017.
There is also anxiety in the oil market where the prices are going to go. Members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) are due to meet at the end of the month to take a decision on production cut.
“Everyone is waiting to see who is going to cut the production first,” said Reiner Seele, Chairman of the board of directors of Wintershall, Germany-based crude oil and natural gas producer. “There is nothing to get nervous about the situation.”
Meanwhile, Amer Al Shaikh Ali, CEO of Total Abu Al Bukoosh (ABK), a subsidiary of Total, said that his company is spearheading an ambitious Emiratisation programme to create maximum job opportunities for UAE nationals. “At Total ABK we have a very ambitious Emiratisation programme. We are working to Emiratise senior positions from university graduates. We have been quite successful so far,” he said.
