Abu Dhabi will maintain 100% government ownership of oil giant ADNOC even as it considers publicly listing parts of its service sector and seeks private equity investment, in a refocusing effort intended to foster new investment, CEO Sultan al-Jaber said Tuesday.
Speaking at the Oil and Money conference, Jaber voiced confidence in the world's long-term need for oil, saying oil and gas "will continue to be the bedrock for energy supplies for decades to come."
He restated plans to increase upstream crude production capacity to 3.5 million b/d by expanding and optimizing existing operations, and plans to reshape the ADMA offshore concession to enhance recovery levels, and to expand the company's sour gas facility, already the largest in the world.
Abu Dhabi has current crude production of around 3.1 million b/d and aims to reach 3.5 million b/d by next year.
In the downstream, Jaber said ADNOC is seeking new strategic partners and aims to triple its petrochemical production.
Part of ADNOC's expansion plans entail bringing in new investors; however, "ADNOC at a holding level will remain wholly owned by one single shareholder, the Abu Dhabi government," Jaber said.
However, he said: "We are looking to optimise our balance sheet to both free up capital for re-investment and enhance and improve our economics and returns."
"ADNOC is therefore considering various options as regards its future financing strategy."
He went on to say that ADNOC had "refocused its approach to strategic partnerships as the key to optimising our entire value chain."
"We seek fast-acting partners who can deliver access to high growth economies, forward-looking partners who can apply the latest technology to our upstream, midstream and downstream operations, and financially savvy partners including private equity for the first time."
"And institutional investors who can deploy long-term capital for attractive and sustainable returns. We are considering the potential IPO of minority stakes in some of our service companies," he said.
The comments come as questions have been raised about Saudi Arabia's plans to privatize part of its state oil giant, Saudi Aramco, and how that might affect its coordination of oil supply with OPEC and other producers.
ADNOC is already in advanced discussions with a number of international oil companies for the ADMA oil concession, operated by the Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Co., which expires in March.
Referring to uncertainty about oil prices, Jaber said that "by focusing our efforts on what we can control ... we will be able to manage risks, drive unit costs down and maximize returns."
