UAE offshore oil output recovers from outage

OFFSHORE PRODUCTION: Around 46 percent of Abu Dhabi's oil production is offshore. (Getty Images)

Offshore oil output in the world's fifth-largest oil exporter the United Arab Emirates has recovered after a power outage shut in around 600,000 barrels per day (bpd), an ADNOC source said on Wednesday.

The outage halted just under a quarter of OPEC-member the UAE's total oil output of 2.6 million barrels per day. It is about half of the Gulf Arab state's offshore output.

"It was a short-term outage," the source at Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) told newswire Reuters on condition of anonymity. "It lasted a couple of days and took most offshore output linked to Das Island offline. Production is back up now."

The power problem shut down gas processing facilities at Das Island on Aug. 30-31, the source said. Das processes gas produced at some of Abu Dhabi's offshore oilfields.

The UAE has a no-flare policy for gas, so when unable to process it shuts down gas-producing oilfields.

Oil traders in Asia said the outage had little impact on the physical market there. One trader said that there had been no impact on scheduled cargo loadings.

Abu Dhabi's grades have suffered from plunging profit margins for refiners in Asia, which have cut back on the amount of oil they process. Asian refiners buy most of the UAE's crude exports.

Premiums for Abu Dhabi's oil have fallen even though Abu Dhabi plans maintenance that will cut oil output from offshore for 150,000 to 200,000 bpd for 40 days in October and November.

Das gas facilities receive gas produced at the most offshore oilfields operated by ADMA-OPCO, majority owned by ADNOC.

Das exports around 5.5 million tonnes per year of LNG, and around 85 percent of shipments go to Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) in Japan.

The rest of the UAE's offshore oil output is produced by the Zadco operating company. Zadco produces over 500,000 bpd from Upper Zakum, the world's fourth-largest oilfield.

State-run ADNOC owns 60 percent of ADMA-OPCO, while the rest is held by BP , Total and the Japanese Development Company. (Reuters)

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