Adnoc aims to benefit from European IOCs’ new impetus

Appetite to replace Russian energy imports is providing a major fillip to the Emirati firm’s upstream development plans

Abu Dhabi’s Adnoc auctioned off stakes in its main oil and gas fields in the late 2010s, at a time when only the NOC was considering domestic economic security and western IOCs were motivated purely by commercial concerns. But now some of Europe’s largest oil companies are rushing to tap decades-old partnerships with the Emirati firm to alleviate the continental energy crisis triggered by Russia’s war in Ukraine. And Adnoc, coffers overflowing thanks to the wider global supply crunch, is happy to reciprocate—exploiting their enthusiasm not only to help increase production of the gas that is both parties’ immediate priority but also to assist in reshaping the emirate’s bedrock oil sector. Cla