UAE upstream standing still

To judge from the slow progress of the Adco concession renewals, the UAE is in no real hurry to expand its upstream

STATE oil company Adnoc got a new boss in March and the government has shuffled personnel in the senior oil and gas decision-making body, Abu Dhabi Supreme Petroleum Council. The organisational changes, together with the long-delayed onshore concession renewal process, have blunted efforts to boost upstream activity this year. A clutch of key projects are nonetheless seeing progress, with natural gas a priority for the feedstock-hungry Emiratis. Oil, though, remains the mainstay. Adnoc is targeting a long-term increase in crude production capacity from 3m barrels a day to 3.5m b/d by 2017-18. One of the biggest contributors to this target is the offshore Upper Zakum field, where Zakum Develo