Abu Dhabi has signed an agreement with China to develop greater upstream co-operation during Chinese premier Wen Jiabao's visit to the Mideast Gulf producer.
The agreement signed yesterday between Abu Dhabi's state-owned oil firm Adnoc and its Chinese equivalent CNPC is for co-operation “in production and upstream projects in one or more undeveloped areas as specified by the Supreme Petroleum Council”, according to Abu Dhabi's state news agency Wam. The council acts as Abu Dhabi's main oil body.
CNPC will likely lead joint field studies with Adnoc. The deal also paves the way for CNPC to take part in a competitive tender for Abu Dhabi's 1.4mn b/d onshore concession.
The so called Adco concession, which groups Adnoc with ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, Total and Portugal's Partex, expires in 2014. Adnoc is currently screening foreign companies that have already expressed interest in the concession area. The concession might be split into three or four smaller pieces or kept as it is now, with possibly new foreign companies as development partners, Adnoc said.
Norway's state-controlled oil firm Statoil, US independent Occidental, Germany's Wintershall, Austria's OMV and South Korea's state-owned oil firm KNOC are also vying for a role in the onshore fields post-2014.