Despite an ominous start to 2020, the end heralds promising times ahead for the region’s oil and gas industry, especially for state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc).

Last month, Abu Dhabi's Supreme Petroleum Council (SPC) announced the discovery of 22 billion barrels of unconventional oil resources and 2 billion barrels of conventional oil reserves, boosting the UAE’s reserves to 107 billion barrels. It also approved a second round of exploration blocks.

The SPC also approved $121.97 billion for Adnoc to invest between 2021 and 2025 in expanding its upstream and downstream and ensure it maintains competitiveness and industry leadership position.

Adnoc aims to inject nearly $44 billion back into the national economy through its In-Country Value (ICV) programme by nurturing new local and international partnerships and business opportunities for the private sector.

Following these investments was Adnoc’s $519-million contract to China National Petroleum Company (CNPC) subsidiary BGP to expand the scope of the world’s largest combined three-dimensional (3D) onshore and offshore seismic survey covering a total area of 85,000 sq km.

Seismic surveying have been instrumental in enabling Adnoc identify and explore new hydrocarbon resources as highlighted by the recent major discoveries, and it reinforces Adnoc’s commitment to unlocking the full potential of Abu Dhabi’s vast hydrocarbon resources.

The contract increases the scope of the ongoing seismic mega survey to capture coastal areas, islands, and shallow water. It will utilise state-of-the-art technologies including cableless equipment and a wide range of environmentally friendly seismic sources.

The seismic acquisition will capture high-resolution 3D images of the complex subsurface structure at ultra-deep locations and help to pinpoint potential hydrocarbon reservoirs by deploying industry-leading technologies to provide high-density survey data which is analyzed at Adnoc’s Thamama Subsurface Center.

This data is being leveraged by all of the successful exploration partners in Abu Dhabi’s first block bid round and the data will also be available, for a cost, to the successful bidders in the second bid round, which will begin to be awarded this year following the SPC’s recent approval.