The UAE Plans an Additional 40 Percent Increase
Turning to the future, upstream oil and gas entities in the UAE continue to identify new projects aimed at boosting the nation’s crude oil production capacity to nearly 4 million barrels per day by 2020, which would amount to an additional increase of approximately 40 percent over current production levels.Reaching this ambitious target will represent a massive undertaking of resources and investment, particularly in light of persistent manpower and materials shortages that have afflicted the global oil and gas sector since 2003. The UAE has invested roughly $7 billion in upstream production infrastructure since 2004 and anticipates investing some $43 billion more in the coming years. At the same time, the UAE will invest more than $6 billion to expand its domestic refining capacity, which will significantly expand its ability to export refined products.
Then-US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson supported these efforts in a June 2008 speech, saying “more liberalization along these lines would benefit all oil producing countries,” and that “in the case of the UAE, the United States is benefiting, too” as “US suppliers of oil and gas field equipment and services are 45 percent of the UAE’s total imports.”
Seeking Innovations to Increase Production
Much of the UAE’s current crude oil production is made possible by the reinjection of natural gas to boost pressure in the nation’s major oil reservoirs. Without this massive program, the UAE’s crude production would stagnate and decline. The UAE is testing carbon capture and sequestration technologies to replace the reinjection of natural gas. This would enhance exports of natural gas, create more flexibility in oil production and provide important global environmental benefits.Source : http://www.uae-embassy.org/uae/energy/global-oil-supply
