Abu Dhabi: The impact of low oil prices and the upcoming Opec (Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) meet in Vienna dominated the discussions at Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (Adipec), which came to an end on Thursday.

Some of the top names in the oil gas industry, including Dr Sultan Al Jaber, chief executive officer of Adnoc group, Bob Dudley, group chief executive of BP, Patrick Pouyanne, chairman and CEO of Total and the new secretary general of Opec, Mohammad Barkindo, took part in the event.

In his opening speech Barkindo underlined the importance of cooperation among Opec and non-Opec members to stabilise oil prices and said they are holding discussions with Russia to reach a consensus on cutting oil production at the next Opec meeting in Vienna on November 30.

“It is vital that Opec and non-Opec members come together to balance the market,” said Barkindo while giving a speech on the opening day of the event.

The UAE energy minister Suhail Al Mazroui said oil prices are at the bottom of the price cycle and the supply glut in the market is almost gone.

Efficiency

He said he was optimistic about the outlook for oil prices, and said that the drop in prices over the past two years has forced the industry to raise efficiency, cut costs, and find new ways of optimisation.

“Any production that you see today was made two years ago … If the glut is gone and we don’t have major [new] supply, why shouldn’t we be optimistic?” Al Mazroui said.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company made two major announcements during the event. It said that Al Hosn sour gas project in the western region of Abu Dhabi will be expanded by 50 per cent from the present capacity of one billion cubic feet per day.

The $10 billion (Dh36.7 billion) sour gas project is being developed in coordination with the US based Occidental Petroleum and reached its full capacity in the second quarter of last year.

Adnoc is also planning to double the production of petrochemicals in the coming years and make significant investment in new projects.