Pakistani first in Abu Dhabi

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has awarded the exploration rights for Abu Dhabi’s offshore block 5 to a consortium of four Pakistani companies – Pakistan Petroleum (which leads the consortium), Mari Petroleum, Oil and Gas Development and Government Holdings – in Abu Dhabi’s second competitive block bid round.

The award marks the first time Pakistani companies have invested and will explore for oil and gas in an Abu Dhabi concession, as well as the first time ADNOC has partnered with Pakistani energy companies.

Following a successful commercial discovery during the exploration phase, the consortium will have the right to a production concession to develop and produce commercial discoveries. ADNOC has the option to hold a 60% stake in the production phase of the concession. The term of the production phase is 35 years from the commencement of the exploration phase.

In addition to drilling exploration and appraisal wells, the exploration phase will see the consortium leverage and contribute financially and technically to ADNOC’s mega seismic survey, which is acquiring 3D seismic data within the block area. The data already acquired over a large part of the block combined with its proximity to existing oil and gas fields, suggests the concession area has promising potential.

As part of Abu Dhabi’s second block bid round, ADNOC awarded offshore block 4 to a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cosmo Energy Holdings; offshore block 3 to a consortium led by wholly-owned subsidiaries of Eni and PTTEP; and onshore block 5 to Occidental.

Following ADNOC’s recent discoveries of 22bn barrels of recoverable unconventional oil resources and 160tn cf of recoverable unconventional gas resources, it was decided not to award an exploration licence for onshore block 2. ADNOC intends to engage with potential partners for unconventional resource licensing opportunities around this geographical area. Some of the unconventional resources discovered have production potential ranking alongside the most prolific North American shale oil plays, according to ADNOC.