DUBAI- Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) plans to boost its renewable energy capacity to 8 gigawatts (GW) before the end of this year, as it expands globally and bids for new projects, its chief executive told Reuters.

Masdar, a developer and operator of utility-scale renewable energy projects, is eyeing new projects in Saudi Arabia, the United States as well as in eastern and central Europe and southeast Asia, said Mohamed Jameel al-Ramahi.

Masdar is wholly-owned by Abu Dhabi's state fund Mubadala Investment Co. Abu Dhabi, like other Gulf oil producers, wants to reduce reliance on crude oil and diversify its energy mix.

"At the beginning of 2019, Masdar set a target of doubling its renewables capacity of 4GW within five years. We now expect to exceed that target before the end of 2020, so in less than two years," al-Ramahi said in a phone interview this week.

In January 2019, Masdar announced plans to double its renewables energy capacity from 4GW in five years with new projects in Asia and the Americas. Al-Ramahi did not give updated details on Masdar's existing renewable energy capacity.

The company has expanded its portfolio in the past years to the United States and had lately announced projects in Australia, Indonesia, and Uzbekistan while completing a project in Serbia and an investment in India.

Al-Ramahi said Masdar had bid for renewable projects in Saudi Arabia, which had launched a multi-billion-dollar renewables energy push. He declined to give further details.

(Reporting by Dahlia Nehme; Editing by Rania El Gamal and Elaine Hardcastle) ((dahlia.nehme@thomsonreuters.com;))