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Strong Dubai crude oil trades skew Asia price benchmark

Oil tanks are seen at a Sinopec plant in Hefei, Anhui province, May 31, 2009. Record trading of Dubai crude by two Chinese state companies this month on a decades-old oil pricing system has pushed the benchmark higher, even as other grades are being pressed lower by a global glut. The strong Dubai trade has forced Middle East producers to raise official selling prices (OSPs), driving Asian buyers to seek cheaper oil elsewhere or cut refinery runs due to low margins. Chinaoil and Unipec, trading units of PetroChina and Sinopec, respectively, traded record volumes of crude in early August on pricing agency Platts’ market assessment process. This pushed up prompt physical Dubai prices against future months, creating a backwardated market structure usually associated with supply shortages. In contrast, a global oil glut has kept Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures in contango this year, and most analysts […]

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Abu Dhabi Wealth Fund Changing Tack Amid Lower Oil Prices

DUBAI—The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, a sovereign-wealth fund with assets estimated at more than $700 billion, is relying less on external money managers and handling more of its investments in-house as its owner grapples with lower oil prices. Funded by excess revenue from the government of Abu Dhabi, a major Persian Gulf oil producer, ADIA was managing 35% of its money in-house in 2014, compared with 25% in the previous year, according to an annual review released Tuesday. Investors watch ADIA’s allocations and money-management strategies carefully because of the effect a shift by a fund its size could potentially have on asset prices. The change reflected growth in internal expertise in recent years, the fund’s managing director, Sheikh Hamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, said in a letter accompanying the report. “While this work is now nearing its conclusion, we will continue to recruit selectively in 2015,” Sheikh Hamed said. […]

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Abu Dhabi to invest over $25 billion in offshore oilfields -ADNOC official

ABU DHABI (Reuters) – Abu Dhabi plans to invest over $25 billion in the next five years on boosting its oil production capacity from offshore fields, a senior official of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co said on Tuesday. The plan is part of the United Arab Emirates’ strategy of increasing its crude oil output potential to 3.5 million barrels per day by 2017-18. "We want to build ‎capacity from production and from number of wells and infrastructure. Our current plan as ADNOC (is to reach) 3.5 million bpd and to sustain it," Qasem al-Kayoumi, manager of ADNOC’s offshore division of the exploration and production directorate, told reporters. He also said the investment plan for offshore drilling activities was $2.5 billion per year. (Reporting by Rania El Gamal; Writing by Andrew Torchia )

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Bahrain joins Emirates in sending fighter planes to Jordan

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — The Gulf island nation of Bahrain says it has deployed fighter planes to Jordan, a day after it announced plans to send troops to the kingdom. Bahrain’s brief statement early Monday said the planes would "participate in the international efforts aiming to eliminate terrorism." It did not provide details, and military officials could not immediately be reached for comment. Bahrain is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet and like Jordan is part of the U.S.-led coalition carrying out airstrikes against the Islamic State militant group. Gulf neighbor the United Arab Emirates previously deployed a squadron of F-16 fighters to Jordan. Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa visited Jordan last week, and his government on Sunday announced it was sending an unspecified number of troops to help support Jordan.

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Total Wins Stake in Abu Dhabi’s Top Onshore Oil Fields

(Bloomberg) — Total SA won bidding to develop the biggest onshore oil deposits in the United Arab Emirates, making the French energy company the first to be chosen by Abu Dhabi to pump more crude amid a global supply glut. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. awarded Total 10 percent of the main land-based concession in the U.A.E.’s largest sheikhdom, for 40 years starting Jan. 1, 2015, the Paris-based company said in an e-mailed statement on Thursday. Adnoc, as the government-owned producer is known, confirmed the award and said it will name other partners “soon.” Total’s stake would account for oil output generating $2.83 billion a year based on yesterday’s closing Brent price of $48.47 a barrel. Middle Eastern energy suppliers including the U.A.E. are expanding their capacity to produce crude for export as well as to boost output of natural gas, which they burn as fuel in local power […]

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As Abu Dhabi Sizes Up Oil Partners, Western Firms Risk Being Left Out

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Abu Dhabi, the largest and wealthiest member among the seven states in the United Arab Emirates, is shaking up its oil industry . It has allowed the expiration of some longstanding concessions to major Western oil companies and is considering replacing at least some of them with partners from Asia and elsewhere. For more than seven decades, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, also known as Adnoc, shared the operation of Abu Dhabi’s oil fields, the biggest onshore producers in the United Arab Emirates, with companies including Exxon Mobil , Royal Dutch Shell, Total and BP , under the umbrella of the Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations. The concessions, for 75 years, expired in January, but Abu Dhabi has yet to say which of the Western companies will have their rights renewed. There are also likely to be new entrants, possibly including […]

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Abu Dhabi to Operate Main Onshore Oil Fields Alone

Abu Dhabi said it would continue to produce and market crude alone from its main onshore oil fields after a shared license to run the fields expires later this month. State-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., known as Adnoc, said Wednesday it wouldn’t renew its 75-year oil-production agreement with BP BP.LN +1.04% BP PLC U.K.: London GBp 498.00 +5.15 +1.04% Jan. 9, 2014 11:27 am Volume : 5.77M P/E Ratio 6.14 Market Cap GBp92.08 Billion Dividend Yield 4.66% Rev. per Employee GBp2,864,460 01/08/14 Abu Dhabi to Operate Main Onsh… 01/03/14 Reliance Industries to Up Outp… 01/01/14 Asian Refiners Get Squeezed by… More quote details and news » BP.LN in Your Value Your Change Short position PLC, Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM -0.33% Exxon Mobil Corp. U.S.: NYSE $ 100.74 -0.33 -0.33% Jan. 8, 2014 4:00 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 11.07M AFTER HOURS $ 100.74 0.00 0.00% Jan. 8, 2014 […]

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