Total is looking to build on its recent Abu Dhabi concession contract win, and increase its footprint further in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Speaking to Gulf News, Hatem Nuseibeh, President of Total Exploration and Production, said: “The drop in oil price has not neither impacted our operations nor our ambitions within the UAE. We are going ahead with all our projects and have plans to expand our footprint,” in the UAE.
“If you look at all the oil producing countries in the world, the UAE is a special one due to very large quantities of reserves. We know the reservoirs very well and technical risks are limited.
“From the political point of view, it’s a perfect place to work because of the stability.”
Speaking about the Abu Dhabi contract win, Nuseibeh revealed: “We already started a technical hub to connect the IT (Information Technology) of Adco (Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations) to the IT of Total worldwide so that Adco personnel can have access to our programmes and research projects.
“We are going to put in place strong presence of Total within Adco and train UAE nationals.”
Total was the first company to win one of the concession contracts, bagging a 10% stake in January in a deal that will span 40 years.
Since then, Japan’s Inpex has been awarded a 5% stake, while South Korean firm GS Energy has been awarded 3%.
