Adnoc reveals record income for gas business ahead of IPO

The United Arab Emirates’ national energy company has started pitching an initial public offering of its gas business to investors, according to people familiar with the matter.

During calls and presentations with potential backers, Adnoc said the two units merged to create Adnoc Gas generated record income last year, according to the people. The strong performance came as global gas prices soared after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its decision to cut supplies to Europe.

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Adnoc Gas was formed at the start of 2023 when Adnoc combined its liquefied natural gas and gas-processing arms. They made adjusted earnings before tax and interest payments of $8.7 billion in the year-ended October 2022, the people said.

Companies are typically valued at several multiples of that figure, though investors are also likely to take into consideration figures from earlier years, when income was lower, as well as the fact gas prices have dipped in 2023.

Revenue for the period through October was just under $25 billion, the people said. It’s still unclear how big a stake Adnoc plans to sell in what could be one of the UAE’s largest-ever IPOs.

Adnoc declined to comment.

The Abu Dhabi-based company, which pumps almost all the oil and gas in the UAE, an OPEC member, has accelerated the listing. It may happen as early as this month, Bloomberg News has reported.

Energy-rich Arabian Gulf nations have been selling assets to diversify their economies and open their stock markets more to international investors. High energy prices helped the region — especially the UAE and Saudi Arabia — buck a global IPO slump last year, and more listings are expected in the coming months.

Adnoc Gas is one of world’s largest gas-processing entities, with a capacity of 10 billion cubic feet a day across eight onshore and offshore sites and a pipeline network of more than 3,250 kilometers (2,019 miles).

It will lead the UAE’s push to boost output and trading of LNG. The country is building a production plant at the port city of Fujairah to almost triple its capacity to around 15 million tons a year, which may make it one of the world’s ten biggest exporters of the fuel.

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