UAE oil giant expects to expand cooperation with China

Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), on Monday expressed his keenness on expanding and deepening energy cooperation with China.

The CEO made the comment in an e-mailed statement sent by ADNOC, after he met with several Chinese oil, gas, refining and petrochemical industry leaders during his visit to China's capital Beijing this week.

Jaber visited Beijing as part of an effort "to expand and deepen business and economic relations with one of the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) largest trading partners," according to the statement.

Energy cooperation is an important aspect of the UAE's relations with China, a major growing market for ADNOC's crude, refined products and petrochemicals, the statement said.

ADNOC believes that there are mutually beneficial partnership and co-investment opportunities with China across the company's upstream and downstream value chains, it added.

In the oil sector, upstream describes the business of discovering, exploring and drilling oil fields, while downstream stands for all parts of the petroleum industry that deal with the refinery of oil or the immediate usage of oil in various industries like petrochemicals.

ADNOC is also ready to work with existing and potential new partners to meet the growing demand for energy and petrochemical products in China, said Jaber.

Jaber met with senior executives from the Wanhua Chemical Group, one of the world's largest producers of methylene diphenyl diisocyanate, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), a major state-owned Chinese oil and gas corporation, and China National Offshore Oil Corporation, China's largest producer of offshore crude oil and natural gas.

He also met with representatives from the China Development Bank and deputy chief of the National Development and Reform Commission.

Jaber discussed ADNOC's plans to develop new energy resources and expand business, which will see a triple of its production of petrochemicals to 14.4 million tons annually by 2025.

Abu Dhabi is home to 7 percent of the world's known oil reserves.

Jaber said his company believes in the enormous potential to expand relations with Chinese companies, especially in the downstream.

The UAE and China have established a number of partnerships in the energy sector since 2014, when ADNOC and CNPC set up the Al Yasat joint venture.

Meanwhile, ADNOC remains focused on market expansion in China and other parts of Asia, where demand for petrochemicals and plastics, including light-weight automotive components, essential utility piping and cable insulation, is expected to double by 2040.