The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is said to have accelerated its plan to increase its oil production capacity. So say sources familiar with the matter. In this way, the Emirates would like to cash in on their stocks of crude oil before the world switches en masse to cleaner energy.
Oil giant Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), which pumps almost all of the UAE’s oil, aims to produce five million barrels of crude per day by 2025, it said. Earlier it said that the company wanted to achieve that target by 2030. According to the same sources, the intention could significantly increase the costs of the project, which would already run into the billions. The plan of Adnoc and the UAE government was initially to bring the target forward to 2027, but eventually it was opted for 2025.
With fossil fuel prices remaining at high levels, well above UAE’s production costs, the country is trying to increase sales of oil and natural gas. “As we embrace the energy transition and future-proof our business, we continue to look for potential opportunities to create value, free up capital and increase returns,” Adnoc said in a statement to Bloomberg. The company did not say whether the target for 2030 would be increased even further. But according to the previously cited sources, it is quite possible that the Emirates will aim to move to six million barrels per day by the end of this decade if they manage to reach the five million mark by 2025.
The United Arab Emirates is OPEC’s largest oil producer after Saudi Arabia and Iraq. The country claims it is already capable of producing just over four million barrels per day, but is currently not doing so due to restrictions imposed by the cartel. According to the financial news agency Bloomberg, the daily production of the Emirates clocked in at just under 3.4 million barrels last month.
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