Future Proofing the Development of Unconventional Resources in UAE

Abstract

Abstract The growth of USA shale oil and gas production over the last decade has been nothing short of phenomenal. In 2012 shale gas comprised 39% of US natural gas output, and by 2040, nearly 80% of total gas production is anticipated to come from unconventional resources. In April 2021, in the USA alone, gas production from major unconventional plays reached 83.0 BCFD and oil production was 7.6 MMBD. Driven by rising gas demand and advances in geosciences, drilling and completion technology (hydraulically fractured horizontal wells), unconventional plays have become eminent in the global energy supply, both for value and volume. The development of unconventional resources in North America was aided by governmental positive policies and taxes preferences, the readily available infrastructure, a vast service sector, advanced technologies and expertise, and general understanding of sweet spots due to numerous well penetrations. Following the above accomplishments: exploration, development, and production success in North America, particularly in the USA unconventional basins, several Majors and Independents have been trying to expand the opportunities outside of North America and other countries such as UAE, Oman and Saudi Arabia have been booking significant unconventional resources. For these reasons, the USA and Canada represent the ‘reference benchmark’ by which countries similarly endowed with shale resources can be evaluated. Abu Dhabi recently announced, in 2019 and 2020, discoveries of 160 TCF of unconventional gas, an estimated 22 billion STB of recoverable unconventional oil resources, both located onshore. These finds have pushed the UAE to the sixth position globally in terms of hydrocarbon reserves, from seventh, according to data listed by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). Developing these resources are an integral part of ADNOC 2030 strategy of "Monetize our hydrocarbon resources" and becoming gas self-sufficient by 2030. North America achievements in unconventional resources development has triggered other countries to evaluate their unconventional resources. This has come with mixed results: failures in Ukraine, Poland and successes in Argentina. UAE has world class unconventional resource base which development raises the challenges of what practices worth replicating (PWR) need to be adopted by UAE and in turn ADNOC. Some lessons learned, thus practices worth replicating (PWR) can be tailored and adopted from the success of unconventional resources development in North America, will be described in this paper as a benchmark for progressing unconventional resources development in UAE.