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ADNOC Gas, which reported record full-year profit of $5.2 billion despite a fall in average Brent crude prices, said the increase was supported by a 4% rise in domestic sales volumes.
The Abu Dhabi–based state-owned gas company, which posted a 3% increase in FY net profit, expects the UAE’s power sector and heavy industries to continue driving domestic net income in 2026, Peter van Driel, Chief Financial Officer of ADNOC Gas, said in an earnings call on Monday.
He ruled out the need for any capital raise, saying the balance sheet remains “very strong”. Even after paying dividends, he noted, the company’s free cash flow provided about half a billion dollars of extra headroom.
“The first step in financing growth is using the ADNOC Gas balance sheet,” van Driel said. “We already have $4 billion in facilities that are in place and not being used, which gives us a lot of flexibility.”
Looking ahead, he said the company will increasingly use the balance sheet to support growth: “Even if we finance the $20 billion of committed capex, ADNOC Gas will not exceed two times net‑debt‑to‑EBITDA.”
ADNOC Gas is currently 86% owned by XRG, the investment arm of ADNOC. TAQA owns 5%, and 9% is free float.
Van Driel added that while any decision regarding increasing the free float is entirely XRG’s, he does not see the need for another sale. “We have seen that after the secondary offering [in February 2025], liquidity in the stock increased tremendously. ADNOC Gas is now the most traded share on the ADX. From our end, we’re quite happy with where we are in terms of liquidity.”
ADNOC Gas is set to acquire a 60% stake in the Ruwais LNG project from its parent company in H2 2028, at an estimated cost of around $5 billion. The financing structure, he added, will be determined jointly with project partners and is “not due yet”.
“There remains a question: do you finance that on the ADNOC Gas balance sheet or do you push down debt in Ruwais LNG?” van Driel said.
Ruwais LNG already has a hybrid capital structure in place. The decision on the next phase of project funding will be made in 2027, he said.
Analyst view
Oliver Connor, director of energy equity research at Citi in London, said the upside for ADNOC Gas lies in the continued acceleration of domestic gas demand and execution of the RGD project, which can drive higher – and more profitable – liquids volumes.
“It is this demand trend – which we believe can push towards 6% via AI-power upside – that appears to be underappreciated by the market, alongside a liquids target that will almost certainly move higher once RGD phase 2 & 3 reach FID (now expected in 1Q26),” he added in a note on Monday.
(Reporting by Brinda Darasha; editing by Seban Scaria)
