ABU DHABI: Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. may sell minority stakes in some of its service units and will seek international partners as the producer of most of the crude in the United Arab Emirates seeks to boost growth and expand operations. The company known as Adnoc, which already has ventures with international companies such as Total SA at its main oil and natural gas fields, will expand its partnerships into refining and petrochemicals as well as other areas like pipelines and storage, Chief Executive Officer Sultan Al Jaber said Monday in an emailed statement. One of its services-related companies may be listed by the end of this year, a spokesman said.
Middle East oil producers need to find new ways to raise cash for expansion with oil prices less than half their average in 2014. Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter, plans to sell a stake in state producer Saudi Arabian Oil Co. next year. Adnoc says its share sale plans will help bolster the U.A.E. economy and create jobs. “Expanding our partnership model across the whole of our value chain and more actively managing our portfolio will allow us to both unlock value and reinvest capital into new, high growth opportunities,” Al Jaber said in the statement. “It will enable us to accelerate our growth, increase revenue and improve integration across the Adnoc value chain.” The U.A.E. government won’t sell stakes in Adnoc itself and the statement didn’t specify which units would be listed. Since Al Jaber was named CEO last year, Adnoc has merged its shipping and ports units and combined its offshore production companies.
The U.A.E. is the fourth-largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Adnoc, based in the U.A.E.’s capital Abu Dhabi, is responsible for most of the country’s 2.9 million barrels a day of output and the company plans to boost production capacity to 3.5 million barrels a day by 2018. International companies such as BP Plc, Total and Exxon Mobil Corp. along with producers from Japan, Korea and China are partners in Abu Dhabi’s onshore and offshore oilfields. Adnoc is seeking to expand its petrochemical business and is developing gas fields to supply power plants and industry.
