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The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) said it has awarded exploration rights to its Offshore Block 5 in its second competitive bid round to a consortium of Pakistani companies led by Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL).
Under the terms of the agreement, the consortium will hold a 100 percent stake in the exploration phase, investing up to $304.7 million to explore for oil and gas in the block, the state-held giant which pumps nearly all the oil in the UAE said in a statement on Tuesday.
Other participants in the consortium are Mari Petroleum Company Limited (MPCL), Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL), and Government Holdings (Private) Limited (GHPL). This is the first time ADNOC has awarded an exploration concession to Pakistani energy companies, the statement said.
If the exploration is successful, the consortium will have the right to a production concession to develop and produce the commercial discoveries. ADNOC has the option to hold a 60 percent stake in the production phase of the concession. The term of the production phase is 35 years from the commencement of the exploration phase.
In addition to drilling exploration and appraisal wells, the consortium will contribute financially and technically to ADNOC’s mega seismic survey, which is acquiring 3D seismic data within the block area.
As part of Abu Dhabi’s second block bid round, ADNOC awarded Offshore Block 4 to a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cosmo Energy Holdings Co., Ltd.; Offshore Block 3 to a consortium led by wholly-owned subsidiaries of Eni and PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Ltd.; and Onshore Block 5 to Occidental. Estimates suggest the blocks in this second bid round hold “multiple billion barrels of oil and multiple trillion cubic feet of natural gas,” the oil company said.
(Writing by Brinda Darasha; editing by Daniel Luiz)
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