BP and Royal Dutch Shell have not met demand of a $2.2bn sign-on fee for the UAE onshore concession nearly two months after the deadline, Abu Dhabi officials have said.
The oil majors’standoff over the terms of the multibillion dollar fee has led many to believe that they will lose access to the fields.
While US-based Exxon Mobil did not bid for the deal, BP and Shell remain contenders for a new 40-year contract.
In January, France’s Total, which agreed to the $2.2bn sign-on fee, was the first International Oil Company to have been approved for the concession, winning a 10% interest in 15 onshore fields.
Other companies interested in the Abu Dhabi onshore concesison, which represents half of the UAE crude oil output, are Norway’s Statoil, Italy’s Eni, Occidental Petroleum and South Korean and Japanese firms.
Speaking to ArabianOilandGas.com, Stephane Michel, Total’s Middle East-North Africa president, said: “[The deal] is clearly a milestone in the history of the group in the Middle East,” states Stephane Michel, Total’s president for the Middle East and North Africa.
“…when you have the chance to get 40 years contract, 2bn barrels reserves, 6% increase of production in a very stable country, which is not that common in the Middle East, we believe that it was really worth it.”
“Our proposal was considered the best from an economic standpoint as well as from a technical standpoint. I think it is very important aspect because it demonstrates the innovation capacity and the capability of Total as a strong operator,” Michel added.
