Reuters reported that BP has not been ruled out of tendering for Abu Dhabi's upcoming renewal of oil and gas concessions, contrary to one media report.
A report in Petroleum Intelligence Weekly said last week Abu Dhabi National Oil Company omitted BP when it sent invitations to existing partners of the Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations concession to tender for renewals before deals expire in 2014.
Industry sources said that BP was invited to take part but had yet to decide whether it wants to or under what terms. All of the existing partners were invited.
BP said that talks were continuing. 'Constructive discussions are happening at all levels. The concessions system in the UAE allows oil and gas producers to acquire equity hydrocarbons from the OPEC member in return for investing in projects.
Adco is the largest concession with capacity to produce between 1.4 barrels per day and 1.5 million barrels per day and its renewal contract is key to Abu Dhabi's plans to boost its oil capacity from 2.7 million barrels per day to 3.5 million barrels per day.
BP is a partner in ADCO with Royal Dutch Shell, Total, ExxonMobil and Partex Oil and Gas with ADNOC holding a controlling stake.
Western oil majors have been partners with Abu Dhabi for decades but some big oil companies have expressed their discomfort about the multi partnered structure of the concessions. Abu Dhabi's interest in bringing more partners into the concessions, particularly Asian companies, may be making BP think twice especially as the makeup of the new deals is far from clear.
An Adnoc source said that there is a certain amount of flexibility. How the final structure comes out how many partners there will be this will all be determined by the tender. More partners are being invited and the concessions could accommodate more partners without being broken up into smaller operating companies
A source close to the process said that if they see things they really like from specific companies in terms of expertise and capabilities they will try and make sure there is room for them to come in.
Source - Reuters
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