The Abu Dhabi Government and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) have added Wintershall Holding GmbH to the Ghasha ultra-sour gas mega project with a 10 per cent stake. The Ghasha Concession consists of the Hail, Ghasha, Dalma and other offshore sour gas fields including Nasr, SARB and Mubarraz. Wintershall will contribute 10% of the project capital and operational development expenses.

Germany’s largest crude oil and natural gas producer and a wholly owned subsidiary of BASF, the world’s largest chemicals company by sales, joins Italy’s Eni as partners with ADNOC in the project. Eni was awarded a 25 per cent stake in the Ghasha concession earlier this month. The agreement marks the first time a German oil and gas company has been awarded a stake in an Abu Dhabi concession area and underscores ADNOC’s objective to expand and diversify its strategic partnership base.

The concession agreement, which has a term of 40 years, was signed by His Excellency Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and ADNOC Group CEO, and Mario Mehren, CEO of Wintershall. 

The announcement builds on the momentum generated by the Supreme Petroleum Council’s (SPC) approval of ADNOC’s new integrated gas strategy, targeted to unlock and maximize value from Abu Dhabi’s substantial available gas reserves, as the UAE moves towards gas self-sufficiency and aims to transition from a net importer of gas to a net gas exporter. 

H.E. Dr Al Jaber said: 
“Development of the Ghasha concession area is a strategic priority for ADNOC. The gas, extracted from the concession area, at commercial rates, will make a significant contribution to fulfilling our commitment to ensuring a sustainable and economic gas supply, and achieving our objective of gas self-sufficiency for the UAE.

“In common with ADNOC, Wintershall has extensive experience of appraising and developing ultra-sour gas resources in technically complex fields. It is a partnership in which each company will benefit from the experience of the other as, together, we optimize costs and ensure we extract the maximum value from all the available gas resources. It builds on our long experience of sour gas production and strengthens our ambition to establish a center of excellence, in Abu Dhabi, for sour gas development.” 

The Ghasha ultra-sour concession will tap into the Arab basin, which is estimated to hold multiple trillions of standard cubic feet of recoverable gas. The project is expected to produce over 1.5 billion cubic feet of gas per day when it comes on stream around the middle of the next decade, enough to provide electricity to more than two million homes. Once complete, the project will also produce over 120,000 barrels of oil and high value condensates per day.

Over the project’s life-time, substantial benefits will flow back into the UAE economy under ADNOC’s In-Country Value program, which is designed to stimulate commercial opportunities, for local businesses, catalyze socio-economic development, develop an ultra-sour gas hub for the region and create additional employment opportunities for UAE nationals.