UAE's ADCO Primes Output Booster

The Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (ADCO) plans to plans to boost its crude output to 1.8 million bpd by 2017, a top official said.

ADCO General Manager Abdel Munim Saif al-Kindi was quoted by Reuters as saying the company will boost output from its onshore fields in two tranches.

It plans to bring 225,000 bpd on stream by 2012 and will add a further 175,000 bpd by 2017. ADCO's current capacity is about 1.4 million bpd.

The UAE player also produces about 4.5 Bscf/d of gas.

The growth in onshore operations is part of a larger plan by the UAE to boost total crude production capacity to around 3.5 million bpd in 2018 from around 2.8 million bpd.

The UAE plans to boost gas output from its offshore fields by 1 Bscf/d by 2013.

As part of measures to boost output, Adco's parent company Abu Dhabi national Oil Corporation (ADNOC) plans to connect offshore gas production with its online grid, and the first stage of that process would be completed in the first quarter of this year, Kindi said. The second stage would start in 2013, he added. Together the two stages would bring 1 Bscf/d onshore that would mostly supply the national grid, he added. - Upstream