Dubai: The UAE has pushed back its target date for producing 3.5 million barrels of crude oil per day from 2017 to 2020 due to some delays in its exploration and production sector, people familiar with the matter said on Monday.

“There are delays in some of the upstream projects and the awarding process of some of the contracts that is causing a delay in the overall target,” one of the people told Dow Jones Newswires.

“A realistic timeframe for the 3.5 million barrels per day target would be 2020,” the person said.

One of the examples of the delays is the development of the Upper Zakum oil field — one of the world’s largest offshore oil fields that is being developed by a consortium that includes oil giant ExxonMobil Corp.

Despite receiving bids to expand the production capacity of the oilfield in the first half of last year, the $3.7 billion contract was only awarded in April this year.

Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Co., or Adma-Opco, said in a statement earlier this month that it plans to boost its output by 400,000 barrels a day to almost 1 million barrels a day by 2020.

The offshore oil and gas unit of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., or Adnoc, previously said it planned to reach this target by 2017.

“There are several things happening in the background with Abu Dhabi that makes 2017 very optimistic,” especially after the emirate rejected Adnoc’s proposal to extend by a year a shared licence to operate some of its largest onshore oil fields, known as Abu Dhabi Co. for Onshore Oil Operations, or Adco, another person said.

The rejection by the Supreme Petroleum Council — which sets the country’s petroleum-related objectives and policies — leaves Adnoc little time to form a new deal with international companies to continue its plan to lift Adco’s output from 1.6 million barrels a day to 1.8 million barrels a day.

“If there are new comers, it will be difficult to implement the plan on time and make the necessary decision,” another person said.

The 75-year-old Adnoc concession, which expires in January, produces more than half of the UAE’s crude production of 2.8 million barrels a day.