UAE oil output to increase

The United Arab Emirates has announced it is to increase its oil production capacity from its current level of 2.7 million barrels per day (bpd) to 3.5 million bpd.

The news comes an Abu Dhabi's Department of Economic Development report that also lists the UAE's current reserves at 98.2 billion barrels. That is an increase on the figure released by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) earlier in the year that estimated UAE reserves at 97.8 billion barrels.

"Abu Dhabi has set ambitious targets to increase total production capacity from the current 2.7 million barrels of oil per day to 3.5 million bpd by 2018," said The Oil and Gas Year, Abu Dhabi 2010.

The report put Abu Dhabi's proven oil reserves at 98.2 billion barrels, and 95 percent of the reserves of the United Arab Emirates, which are ranked seventh largest in the world.

Currently, the UAE is producing below its capacity with output at around 2.3 million bpd. However, the reductions, approved by OPEC, have been enforced since December 2008 when the global recession caused oil prices to crash.

Sector investment

In the UAE, it is Abu Dhabi that has invested the most in oil production with US$30 billion going into oil and gas projects between March 2009 and March 2010. As such, the report said that operators and service providers have been able to "make the best" of the global economic downturn by purchasing materials, equipment and manpower at lower cost.

The aim to increase production has even led to Abu Dhabi investors such as Mubadala Development Co. contemplating buying assets from BP, who are desperately trying to raise money in the wake of the BP oil spill.

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