Fossil Energy – Production
Abu Dhabi’s Upper Zakum offshore oil field is likely to reach its target for expanding production capacity ahead of schedule.
Upper Zakum, which Exxon has developed in partnership with Abu Dhabi’s government-owned producer and Japan’s Inpex Corp., currently has capacity to pump 1 MMbpd, Woods said. Work is underway to expand that to 1.5 MMbpd by 2030, and the project is likely to hit that goal early, he said.
Increasing capacity gives the United Arab Emirates additional clout in the oil market, while also being an occasionally touchy subject within OPEC+, which places limits on members’ output.
The UAE’s production is currently capped at about 3.4 MMbpd. Although those restrictions are slowly easing, they still leave some resources that cost billions of dollars to develop lying idle.
