The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has launched a new oil and gas bidding round covering five exploration blocks in Abu Dhabi as part of the UAE emirate’s block licensing strategy.
Image: ADNOC launches second bid round for oil and gas blocks in Abu Dhabi. Photo: courtesy of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.
In what will be the second bid round to be held by Abu Dhabi, three offshore and two onshore blocks have been put up for offer by ADNOC for the exploration of conventional and also unconventional resources.
The five blocks – Offshore Block 3, Offshore Block 4, Offshore Block 5, Onshore Block 5 and Onshore Block 2, put together, cover an area of nearly 34,000km2.
In terms of area, Offshore Block 3, which is spread over an area of more than 11,000km2, is the largest block to be offered by Abu Dhabi in the two bidding rounds announced by Abu Dhabi.
In some geographical areas, Offshore Block 3 overlaps with existing concessions that were previously granted to international oil companies. The company said that the block will be awarded to explore exclusively for potential gas in deep geological formations and potential oil in multiple formations, outside the areas covered by the existing concessions.
Onshore Block 5 and Onshore Block 2 will provide two separate licensing opportunities for conventional and unconventional oil and gas, respectively, said the UAE’s state-owned oil company.
The blocks offered by ADNOC in the second bid round are estimated to contain multiple billion barrels of oil and multiple trillion cubic feet of natural gas, based on available information from petroleum system studies, seismic surveys, exploration and data from appraisal wells.
ADNOC said that some of the blocks already contain discoveries. Furthermore, the company said that there are 290 targeted reservoirs from 92 prospects and leads within the combined geographical area of the five blocks.
The company said that successful bidders will be given exploration rights and based on achievement of defined targets in the exploration phase, will have the scope to develop and produce any discoveries, as per terms outlined in the bid package.
ADNOC Group CEO Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber said: “This second bid round provides the next major opportunity for both new and existing partners, with best-in-class exploration technology and expertise, to join us in further unlocking Abu Dhabi’s substantial hydrocarbon resources in the UAE’s trusted and reliable investment environment.
“It signals both Abu Dhabi’s and ADNOC’s ongoing drive to realize the potential of our resource base to remain a long-term and reliable energy provider to the world.”
In April 2018, Abu Dhabi launched its first competitive oil and gas exploration and production bid round, which featured two offshore and four onshore blocks, with a combined area of nearly 30,000km2.