UAE Oil Minister Mohammed Bin Dhaen al-Hamli said Monday that the days of easy oil were coming to an end and the UAE and fellow oil producers are having to resort to enhanced oil recovery and development of complex ultra sour oil and gas reservoirs in order to meet its future commitments as a major oil and gas producer.
"We remain firmly committed to maintaining and strengthening our role as a major oil and gas producer," Hamli told a ministerial session at the start of the World Petroleum Congress in Doha.
While the UAE, an OPEC member and holder of some 8% of global oil reserves, had recently taken a "wide range of energy initiatives that go beyond our traditional role as a leading oil and gas producer," traditional hydrocarbons would continue to play a role in the economy, he said.
"There can be no doubt that oil will play a prominent role in the global energy mix for many decades to come. Its share is expected to fall from 34% to 28% but in nominal terms demand will continue to grow, reaching over 109 million b/d by 2035," Hamli said.
"The challenge for producers such as the UAE is to continue producing oil and gas from existing reservoirs while, at the same time, developing new opportunities," he said. "It is no secret that the days of easy oil are coming to an end. Increasingly we are being forced to go down the route of enhanced oil recovery and developing ultra sour oil and gas from complex reservoirs."
These challenges had turned the oil-rich region to become a center for development of new technologies and innovation, Hamli said, referring to the UAE's expansion into renewable energy and its decision to build the zero-carbon Masdar City in Abu Dhabi.
"Our commitment to widening our domestic energy mix and promoting renewable energy does not mean that we have turned our backs to the oil industry," Hamli said.
"Our growing population and fast-moving industrial developments have forced us to choose between continuing burning fossil fuels which would otherwise be exported and finding complementary energy solutions for use at home. We realized that by widening our domestic fuel mix, we could release more hydrocarbons for export," he added.
The UAE has set a target of switching to nuclear power for 25% of its power generation requirements, Hamli said, adding that national peak demand for electricity was set to more than double by 2020 while demand for other forms of energy is growing.
The UAE expects to have its first nuclear power station commissioned in 2017 while at the same time developing solar energy. Abu Dhabi has set a target of generating 7% of its energy needs from renewable sources including solar.
"We believe that the best way of securing a sustainable economic future in a carbon constrained world is to develop a balanced portfolio of clean energy sources in which nuclear, renewable energy, oil and natural gas all have a role to play," Hamli said.
