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Abu Dhabi to up Murban capacity to 1.5m bpd

TOKYO — Abu Dhabi aims to boost output capacity at its biggest Murban oilfield by 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 1.5 million bpd between December and March, the head of its state-oil firm said yesterday.

“There are new capacities coming gradually from June onward,” Yousef Omair bin Yousef, chief executive of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (Adnoc), told Reuters.

“Almost 200,000 bpd capacity will be added to Murban by the end of this year or early next year — say between December and March.”

After the increase, Abu Dhabi’s total oil production capacity will be around 2.7 million bpd, up from 2.4-2.5 million bpd, said bin Yousef.

Abu Dhabi, the main oil producer of Opec-member the United Arab Emirates, plans to further raise crude oil output capacity to 3 million bpd in the next three to five years to ease concerns over global oil supplies, he said.

The giant onshore Murban oilfield production capacity will be about 1.5 million bpd after the increase, Bin Yousef said.

The Murban oilfield is now undergoing regular maintenance.

He declined to give the maintenance schedules at the oilfield.

But maintenance at any oilfield in Abu Dhabi typically takes around 30 days on average, said Bin Yousef, who is in Japan this week to meet Adnoc’s customers.

Traders have said that Abu Dhabi would raise crude oil supplies by more than 60,000 bpd in June from May as the Murban oilfield returned from maintenance.

Adnoc will supply full contracted volumes of its Murban crude for June loading to Asia, compared with a 5 per cent cut in May, traders said, which translated to an estimated 60,000 bpd more crude.

Traders said they expected Adnoc to also allocate full term volumes of Murban crude, and possible additional volumes, in July.

Abu Dhabi’s other main oilfields are the Umm Shaif, Lower Zakum and Upper Zakum fields.

Japan is the world’s third-biggest oil consumer after the United States and China, and the UAE’s biggest customer.

UAE supplies about 1.1 million bpd of crude oil to Japan, or 25 per cent of its total oil demand. The volume accounts for 15 per cent of the UAE’s total oil exports.

Bin Yousef said it was unlikely that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries would reduce crude oil production despite the recent drop in prices below $50 a barrel.

“Personally I think prices are still a little too high at $45-50,” said Bin Yousef, who stressed that he is not UAE’s Opec representative.

Opec, which is producing oil at almost full capacity to pull down high prices, is scheduled to meet on June 15 to review its production policy.

Opec President Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahd Al Sabah said this week; the group’s 11 member countries were producing 30.3 million bpd, the highest level in 25 years. He said the group would continue to pump oil at nearly full tilt through June.

International benchmark prompt US light crude oil futures fell to as low as $48.29 a barrel on Friday, the lowest in three months, around 17 per cent below the record high of $58.28 struck in early April.