The Government of AbuDhabi has extended the concession for the Upper Zakum oil field,offshore Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) to 2041.
The extension adds more than 15 years to the previous term. Upper Zakum is being jointly developed by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Exxon Mobil (EM) and an INPEX subsidiary Japan Oil Development Co., Ltd. (JODCO).
The Upper Zakum oil field, one of the largest oil fields in the world, covering 1150km, about 80km offshore, northwest of Abu Dhabi city.
ADNOC and JODCO jointly started the development work in the Field in 1978, and production started in 1982.
In March 2006, ADNOC transferred a part of its interest to EM: thecurrent interest ownership is: ADNOC 60%, EM 28%, JODCO 12%).
Productioncapacity has continually been increased and has now become one of the core oil fieldsin Abu Dhabi.
Currently, the development work is carried out using the artificial islands, whilst the production capacity is targeted at 750,000 bbl/d.
ADNOC, EM andJODCO are planning to conduct a study to raise the production capacity to 1MM bbl/d.