Business

Mohamed bin Zayed chairs ADNOC Board of Directors Meeting at Expo 2020 Dubai

DUBAI, 1st December, 2021 (WAM) — His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), today presided over the annual meeting of the ADNOC Board of Directors.

During the meeting, which was held in the UAE pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, H.H. Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed conveyed the support and encouragement of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan for ADNOC and commended the company’s proactive steps to embrace the energy transition, noting its clean energy partnership with Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC). Sheikh Mohamed lauded ADNOC’s strong performance and its landmark achievements in 2021 that have maximised value and growth opportunities for the UAE.

Other board members that attended the meeting were H.H. Sheikh Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Chairman of Abu Dhabi Executive Council; H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs; H.H. Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, member of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council and Chairman of Abu Dhabi Executive Office; H.H. Sheikh Theyab bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chairman of Crown Prince Court; Suhail bin Mohammed Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure; Dr. Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Managing Director and Group CEO of ADNOC; Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh, Minister of State; Dr. Ahmed Mubarak Ali Al Mazrouei, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council Office; Khaldoun Khalifa Al Mubarak, Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer of Mubadala; Jassim Mohammed Buatabh Al Zaabi, Member of the Executive Council and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Finance Council; and Awaidha Murshed Al Marar, Member of the Executive Council and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Energy.

During the meeting, H.H. Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed underlined ADNOC’s important role as a catalyst for the UAE’s growth and diversification and expressed confidence that the company is well placed to continue to empower the nation’s socioeconomic ambitions as it looks ahead to the next 50 years.

ADNOC is building on this success and today announced a significant increase in national reserves of 4 billion stock tank barrels (STB) of oil and 16 trillion standard cubic feet (TSCF) of natural gas. These additional reserves increase the UAE’s hydrocarbon reserves base to 111 billion STB of oil and 289 TSCF of natural gas, reinforcing the country’s position in global rankings as the holder of the sixth-largest oil reserves and the seventh-largest gas reserves.

Commenting on the achievements, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed congratulated ADNOC and said the UAE will continue to responsibly unlock its hydrocarbon resources to drive progress and contribute to global energy security.

As ADNOC unlocks the UAE’s lower carbon oil and gas resources, it is ensuring greater economic value is retained in the local economy through its successful In-Country Value (ICV) programme which is nurturing new business opportunities for the private sector and creating jobs opportunities for UAE Nationals.

Sheikh Mohamed and the board reviewed the ongoing achievements of ADNOC’s ICV programme. Since ADNOC launched the programme in January 2018, it has driven AED105 billion ($28.6 billion) back into the UAE economy and created over 3,000 jobs for UAE Nationals in the private sector, including over 1,000 jobs this year.

The Board of Directors approved ADNOC’s five year business plan and capital expenditure (CAPEX) of AED466 billion ($127 billion) for 2022-2026 to enable its plans to expand its upstream production capacity and downstream portfolio as well as its low carbon fuels business and clean energy ambitions. As part of this plan, ADNOC aims to drive over AED160 billion ($43.6 billion) back into the UAE economy across 2022-2026 through its ICV programme. This will further stimulate growth and diversification and support the objectives of the UAE Principles of the 50 outlined by the wise leadership to usher a new era of economic and social growth over the next 50 years.

The board also approved ADNOC’s New Energies Strategy aimed at further reducing its carbon footprint and enabling it to capitalise on opportunities in renewable energy, hydrogen and other lower carbon fuels. The board noted that ADNOC’s clean energy partnership with EWEC will see up to 100 percent of ADNOC’s grid power supplied by EWEC’s nuclear and solar clean energy sources, and concluded it is an important milestone in ADNOC’s journey to a lower-carbon future.

In Downstream and Industry, the board endorsed ADNOC’s plans to evaluate doubling its liquefied natural gas (LNG) production capacity from 6 to 12 million tonnes per annum (MMTPA). The potential expansion of ADNOC’s LNG production capacity is underpinned by the growth in its natural gas position, with new developments planned to add 3 billion standard cubic feet per day (scfd) and more to come from associated gas as it expands its crude oil production capacity.

The board highlighted the progress of the TA’ZIZ Industrial ecosystem in Ruwais and the strong local and international investor interest received, particularly in the TA’ZIZ Industrial Chemicals Zone. The Chemicals Zone, ADNOC’s joint venture with Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding Company (ADQ), is a key pillar of ADNOC’s downstream and industrial expansion strategy and is helping to accelerate the development of Abu Dhabi’s petrochemicals and manufacturing industry. Anchor projects for the world-class chemicals zone are already in the design phase and international partners such as Reliance Industries, Fertiglobe, GS Energy and Mitsui have announced they will partner with TA’ZIZ.

Within the TA’ZIZ Industrial Chemicals Zone, ADNOC is advancing a world-scale low carbon ammonia facility as part of its ongoing efforts to reinforce Abu Dhabi’s leadership in the clean hydrogen economy and capitalise on growing global demand for low-carbon ammonia. The board noted the progress on this front, including ADNOC’s recent sales of low carbon ammonia demonstration cargos produced by Fertiglobe at its Fertil plant in Ruwais to customers in Asia.

In trading, the board recognised the significant strides made by ADNOC’s trading teams following the establishment of two new trading entities – ADNOC Trading (AT) and ADNOC Global Trading (AGT) – over a year ago. The board congratulated ADNOC on the establishment of its trading offices in Singapore, which are the latest step in the growth of its trading businesses.

The board discussed recent developments in oil and gas markets and noted that ADNOC continues to remain agile, resilient and able to quickly adapt to market conditions.

The success of the Murban Futures Contract on ICE Futures Abu Dhabi (IFAD) was also highlighted with the new Murban Futures Contract recently trading over one billion barrels of Abu Dhabi’s flagship low-carbon Murban crude. The board noted that Murban was now more widely available to a broader set of market participants around the globe and is well positioned to act as an important price marker for crude oil.

On this occasion, Dr. Al Jaber said, "ADNOC is very grateful for the support of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, the Supreme Council for Economic and Financial Affairs and the ADNOC Board of Directors, as their guidance has been instrumental in enabling our robust operational and financial performance and landmark achievements this year. Our progress is as a result of the wise directives of the UAE’s leadership and the hardwork and dedication of all my colleagues at ADNOC.

"We have laid a solid foundation to ensure ADNOC continues to drive greater and more sustainable value for the UAE during the energy transition. As we build on this foundation, we are capitalising on the many commercial opportunities in this era while strengthening our position as one of the lowest cost and lowest carbon oil and gas producers in the world.

"The Board of Directors’ approval of ADNOC’s Business Plan and New Energies Strategy marks an important phase in our ongoing journey to future-proof our business model. We are confidently moving forward to deliver upstream growth, accelerate the UAE’s industrial development through our downstream expansion, build our trading capabilities and advance our position in hydrogen and clean energy. At the same time, we are creating opportunities for the UAE’s private sector to benefit from ADNOC’s growth and enabling more skilled job opportunities for UAE National talent, in line with the Leadership’s wise directives."

The increase in oil and gas national reserves was driven by ADNOC’s continuous appraisal activities and enabled by best reservoir management practices across its onshore and offshore portfolio as well as leveraging advanced tailored technologies. In addition, maturing development plans towards achieving ADNOC’s 5 million barrels per day (mmbpd) production capacity target by 2030 contributed to the substantial reserves increase.

Around half of the newly added 4 billion STB oil national reserves are Murban-grade crude, Abu Dhabi’s highly sought-after lower-carbon crude grade which has been successfully trading on the ICE Futures Abu Dhabi (IFAD) commodities exchange since March 2021.

The new Murban reserves offer the potential to reinforce the long-term liquidity of the Murban Futures Contract. Furthermore, the increase in oil and gas reserves underpins ADNOC’s objectives of boosting its crude oil production capacity and driving gas self-sufficiency for the UAE. These objectives will be enabled by the growth of ADNOC’s drilling activities, through ADNOC Drilling, as they will require thousands of new wells by 2030.

The latest increase in national reserves follows ADNOC’s announcement last year of the discovery of recoverable unconventional oil resources estimated at 22 billion STB and an increase in conventional oil national reserves of 2 billion STB. Also, in 2019, ADNOC announced national reserves increases of 7 billion STB of oil and 58 TSCF of conventional gas and the discovery of unconventional recoverable gas resources totaling 160 TSCF.

This year ADNOC has delivered several other landmark achievements. These include the largest initial public offering (IPO) in the history of Abu Dhabi’s stock exchange, ADNOC Drilling, which was more than thirty times oversubscribed; the IPO of the world’s biggest shareholder-owned exporter of fertiliser, Fertiglobe, which was more than twenty times over-subscribed; raising $1.64 billion (AED6 billion) through the combined offering of ADNOC Distribution shares and issuance of exchangeable bonds; the successful conclusion of Abu Dhabi’s second exploration block bid round and the signing of a $6.2 billion (AED22 billion) strategic partnership with Borealis to build Borouge 4 in Ruwais.

Business

Swiss government suspends forms of variable remuneration at Credit Suisse

Switzerland's finance department has issued an order to Credit Suisse to temporarily suspend certain forms of variable pay for the bank's employees, the Swiss government said.

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“This measure relates to already granted but deferred remuneration for the financial years up to 2022, for example in the form of share awards,” the Swiss Federal Council said in a statement.

The government said that deferred payments that were already in the process of being paid out were exempt from the order.

The Swiss government also instructed its finance department to propose further measures on variable remuneration for Credit Suisse.

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Business

Yellen vows to safeguard US bank deposits, may need more interventions

The US banking system is stabilizing after strong actions from regulators, but further steps to protect bank depositors may be needed if smaller institutions suffer deposit runs that threaten more contagion, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told bankers on Tuesday.

In prepared remarks to an American Bankers Association conference, Yellen said government steps taken in recent days to protect uninsured deposits in two failed banks and create new Federal Reserve liquidity facilities have shown a “resolute commitment to take the necessary steps to ensure that depositors’ savings and the banking system remain safe.”

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Yellen, speaking more than a week after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) closed the failing Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, said the “decisive and forceful” actions were strengthening public confidence in the US banking system and protecting the American economy.

“The steps we took were not focused on aiding specific banks or classes of banks. Our intervention was necessary to protect the broader US banking system,” Yellen said in the remarks released by the Treasury.

“And similar actions could be warranted if smaller institutions suffer deposit runs that pose the risk of contagion,” she added.

She said she believed the actions by the FDIC, the Federal Reserve and the Treasury had reduced the risk of further bank failures that would have imposed losses on the bank-funded Deposit Insurance Fund.

Yellen did not provide details on what further actions may be warranted.

Some banking groups have called for temporary universal guarantees on all US bank deposits, a step that requires approval by Congress under expedited procedures. However, the conservative Republican House Freedom Caucus opposes expanding deposit guarantees beyond the FDIC’s current $250,000 limit per depositor, a major roadblock to swift action aimed at stemming a deeper crisis.

Guarantees for uninsured deposits in specific troubled banks would require Yellen, President Joe Biden and “supermajorities” of the Fed and FDIC board to determine that the bank qualifies for a “systemic risk exception” – actions taken in the SVB and Signature cases.

Yellen said the Fed’s new Bank Term Funding facility and discount window lending were working as intended to provide liquidity to the banking system and aggregate deposit outflows from regional banks have stabilized.

A move by large banks to deposit $30 billion into troubled First Republic Bank last week “represents a vote of confidence in our banking system,” Yellen added.

She also said it was important to maintain a “dynamic and diverse banking system” to support the U.S. economy, with large, mid-sized and small banks all playing a role to support households, small businesses and increasing competition in financial services.

Yellen said she was keeping in close contact with bankers, state and federal regulators, market participants and international counterparts about the banking situation.

She added that the situation was “very different” from the 2008-2009 global financial crisis, when subprime mortgage assets put many banks under stress.

“We do not see that situation in the banking system today. Our financial system is also significantly stronger than it was 15 years ago.”

The Treasury chief said that in coming weeks, regulators will examine the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, “but we will need to reexamine our current regulatory and supervisory regimes and consider whether they are appropriate for the risks that banks face today.”

Business

Google suspends Chinese shopping app amid security concerns

Google has suspended the Chinese shopping app Pinduoduo on its app store after malware was discovered in versions of the app from other sources.

Google said in a statement Tuesday that it suspended the Pinduoduo app on the Google Play app store out of “security concerns” and that it was investigating the matter.

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The suspension of the Pinduoduo app –- mainly used in China –- comes amid heightened US-China tensions over Chinese-owned apps such as TikTok, which some US lawmakers say could be a national security threat. They allege that such apps could be used to spy on American users.

Pinduoduo is a popular e-commerce app in China which often offers discounts if users team up to buy multiples of an item. Google warned users Tuesday to uninstall any Pinduoduo app not downloaded from its own Play store.

“Google Play Protect enforcement has been set to block installation attempts of these identified malicious apps,” Google said in its statement. “Users that have malicious versions of the app downloaded to their devices are warned and prompted to uninstall the app.”

It was unclear if there are similar security concerns around the Pinduoduo app for Apple users, and Pinduoduo was still available to download from Apple’s iOS store Tuesday.

PDD Holdings Inc, which operates Pinduoduo, did not immediately comment. Hong Kong traded shares in the company tumbled 14.2 percent on Tuesday.

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