ADNOC Signs New Offshore Concession Agreement with Cepsa
Tuesday 20 February 2018
On behalf of the Abu Dhabi Government, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company signed an agreement with Cepsa, a Spanish integrated oil and gas company, awarding it a 20% stake in Abu Dhabi’s offshore SARB and Umm Lulu concession.
The choice of Cepsa, which is wholly-owned by Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company and operates across the entire oil and gas value chain, underpins ADNOC’s strategy to maximize returns from its resources, expand its Downstream business, and retain value for the UAE.
The concession area is made up of two main fields under development, Umm Lulu, which is part of the former ADMA offshore concession, and SARB, as well as two smaller fields, Bin Nasher and Al Bateel. The ADMA concession has been split into three new concessions to maximise commercial value, broaden ADNOC’s partner base, expand technical expertise, and enable greater market access.
Cepsa contributed a participation fee of AED 5.5 billion ($1.5 billion) to enter the concession, which also takes into account previous ADNOC investments in the concession area. ADNOC retains a majority 60% stake in the concession that will be operated by ADNOC Offshore, a subsidiary of ADNOC.
The agreement has a term of 40 years and an effective date of March 9, 2018.