UAE’s ADNOC Says No Timeframe For Decision On Onshore Concession

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) does not have a deadline for when to award further stakes in its 40-year onshore oilfield concession, the director general of the state run company said on Monday.

The comment suggests ADNOC, which signed an agreement on Jan. 29 with France’s Total giving the firm a 10 per cent stake in the new concession, is in no rush to make a decision about other bidders in the tender.

Total’s bid set the bar high for peers like BP and Royal Dutch Shell after the French oil major submitted the best bid and highest signature bonus, according to industry sources.

When asked if talks with Shell and BP continued after they submitted revised bids, ADNOC’s director general Abdullah Nasser al-Suwaidi told reporters in Abu Dhabi that the oil companies “know what we’ve asked for and they bid.”

“Whoever meets our conditions, will be considered… there is no timeline,” he added.

A total of nine firms bid for stakes in the Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (ADCO) concession which became available after a 40-year deal with Western oil companies expired in January 2014.

ExxonMobil, Shell, Total and BP each held 9.5 per cent equity stakes in that ADCO concession.

After the deal expired last year, ADNOC took 100 percent of the concession as political leaders in Abu Dhabi weighed up whether to bring in Asian firms, industry and diplomatic sources said.

Shell, Total and BP made new bids, while Exxon decided against bidding.

Other bidders include U.S. firm Occidental Petroleum Corp , Italy’s ENI, China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), Norway’s Statoil, Korea National Oil Corp. and Japan’s Inpex.