ADNOC announces three onshore oil discoveries of 650 million barrels

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has announced three oil discoveries totalling 650 million barrels at Bu Hasa, Abu Dhabi’s biggest onshore field, as well as onshore Block 3 and Al Dhafra Petroleum Concession, paving the way for a significant expansion of Murban crude production.

The 500 million barrels of oil discovered from an exploration well in the Bu Hasa field – part of the ADNOC Onshore Concession and operated by ADNOC Onshore – has unlocked a new formation within the field offering substantial additional premium-grade Murban oil resources, the company said in a statement.

In Abu Dhabi’s Onshore Block 3, operated by Occidental, around 100 million barrels of oil in place were discovered, marking the second oil find in this concession. Occidental was awarded the exploration rights for Onshore Block 3 in early 2019.

Around 50 million barrels of light and sweet Murban-quality crude was also discovered in the Al Dhafra Petroleum Concession, operated by Al Dhafra Petroleum, a joint venture between ADNOC, the Korea National Oil Company (KNOC) and GS Energy.

The discoveries were announced during a meeting of the Executive Committee of the ADNOC Board of Directors chaired by HH Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, member of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Office.

Earlier this year, ADNOC announced a major gas discovery in the Offshore Block 2 exploration concession operated by Eni, with the block’s first exploration well indicating between 1.5 trillion and 2 trillion cubic feet of raw gas in place in multiple good quality reservoirs of the Jurassic exploration targets.

Last year, ADNOC confirmed a discovery of up to one billion barrels of oil equivalent (BBOE) at Onshore Block 4 Exploration Concession, operated by the Japanese combine INPEX and Japan Oil Development Company (JODCO).