DUBAI:
The United Arab Emirates has not seen a need for or discussed the listing of state-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) — similar to Saudi Aramco’s scheduled initial public offering (IPO) — the country’s energy minister Suhail Mohammad Al Mazroui said on Tuesday.
When asked if the government would consider offering shares of Adnoc, Al Mazroui said: “Our situation in the UAE is different. Since the beginning we have foreign investors, and they are our partners and shareholders, when it comes to operating companies. I don’t think we have discussed or seen a need to IPO Adnoc.”
Al Mazroui’s comments came following Saudi Arabia’s announcement to offer shares of its crown jewel Saudi Aramco, which is said to be valued at $2 trillion.
Optimisation:
Al Mazroui said they would continue to integrate Adnoc’s subsidiaries for efficiency.
“There is going to be a continuous engagement to cut costs and optimise. We would continue doing that,” he said at a conference in Dubai.
“Adnoc is looking at several opportunities of optimising cost. Are they looking at more opportunities to merge, I can say yes. Have they reached that recommendation to come, we will have to wait and see,” he added.
Adnoc is the 12th largest producer of oil globally. It currently produces about three million barrels of oil per day and targets 3.5 mbopd by 2018 depending on market conditions.
“As a responsible player, we need to have that buffer to ensure that we don’t have shocks. Those buffers were very helpful to avoid surges in the market that was hurting the economy. The last thing we want is a bust followed by a boom,” he added.
Additionally, the energy minister is happy with compliance on the last year’s deal to cut output.
“We are happy with the performance of the commitment. We still have gave two months to evaluate and decide. I hope that we would get together to form a single opinion,” Al Mazroui said.
Opec is scheduled to meet on May 25 to discuss whether to extend output cuts of 1.2 million barrels per day for another six months.
