The Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (Adnoc) has issued formal requests to Royal Dutch/Shell and ExxonMobil to submit proposals to acquire significant equity stakes in the Zakum Development Co (Zadco), reported the Middle East Economic Survey (MEES).
At the end of last year a potential deal involving Adnoc and BP Amoco and TotalFinaElf was stymied after the Abu Dhabi's Supreme Petroleum Council (SPC) failed to approve the deal.
The SPC now says it wants to review proposals from all four companies before taking a decision.
MEES said SPC chairman Sheikh Khalifa bin Zaid al Nahayan and Adnoc CEO and SPC Secretary General Yousef Omair bin Yousef intending backing a bid by BP and TotalFinaElf to acquire 14.67 percent and 13.33 percent respectively in Zadco.
But in October members of the ruling family questioned why further awards of equity stakes in the upstream should be restricted to BP and Total.
The Zadco venture currently produces 500,000 barrels per day of crude oil from the offshore Upper Zakum oil field. It is 88 percent-owned by Adnoc and 12 percent-owned by Jodco of Japan. – (Albawaba-MEBG)
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
