The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) announced the signing of the first concession to explore unconventional oil resources in the Middle East with the Malaysian National Oil and Gas Company (Petronas), in order to explore in the onshore area No. 1 in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, which is rich in these resources.
The agreement extends for six years, and under its terms Malaysian Petronas will retain a 100% stake in the rights to operate the concession to explore and evaluate unconventional resources in Onshore Block No. Emirates (WAM).
After a successful evaluation stage, the partners (ADNOC) of the UAE and (Petronas) of Malaysia can conclude a production concession agreement that will be valid for a period of 30 years, starting from the date of awarding the first concession to Petronas, and (ADNOC) will have the option to retain a 50% stake in the production concession.
According to the agreement, Petronas will contribute financially to a huge 3D survey project being implemented by ADNOC, which has already provided accurate data on the concession area, in addition to benefiting from the data and information provided by the project regarding the concession area.
The extractable unconventional oil resources in Abu Dhabi are estimated at about 22 billion barrels of light and sweet crude oil, bearing in mind that unconventional resources require advanced extraction techniques from conventional oil such as shale oil.
