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Abu Dhabi Changes Adnoc Management Amid Talks on Oil Concessions

By Ayesha Daya -

Abdullah Nasser al-Suwaidi, former deputy chief executive officer of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., was named the state-owned company’s director general as the oil producer starts to renegotiate contracts with foreign companies.

"The new director-general has close relations with the Abu Dhabi crown prince and thinks in the same way," said Thad Malesa, an independent analyst based in Dubai. "The crown prince wants to get the best deals possible for Abu Dhabi, and right now they will be looking at pushing oil concessions forward and with new partners."

Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Total SA are among companies seeking to extend contracts for producing oil in Abu Dhabi, holder of more than 90 percent of the oil reserves in the U.A.E. The sheikhdom is planning to spend as much as $60 billion over the next decade to expand its oil and gas industry, including boosting crude production capacity to 3.5 million barrels a day from about 2.8 million now.

Al-Suwaidi was appointed by a decree by United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan. Adnoc’s Chief Executive Officer Yousef Omair bin Yousef is no longer a member of the Supreme Petroleum Council, which decides the country’s petroleum policy, state-owned Emirates News Agency reported yesterday.

Concessions

Exxon Mobil and Shell are concession-holders in Adnoc’s onshore unit Abu Dhabi Co. for Onshore Oil Operations until 2014. Adnoc owns 60 percent of the unit with Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total, BP Plc and Partex Oil & Gas holding the rest.

Cosmo Oil Co., a Japanese refiner 21 percent owned by the government of Abu Dhabi, was awarded a concession in Hail oil field for 30 years and was granted a 30-year extension of its rights in Mubarras, Umm Al Anbar and Neewat Al Ghalan oil fields when they expire in December 2012, it said in February.

Concessions in Abu Dhabi’s offshore fields, held by BP Plc, Total and Japan Oil Development Co., expire later this decade.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ayesha Daya in Dubai at adaya1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Voss at sev@bloomberg.net