Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology & ADNOC Group CEO • Interview
ADNOC places great emphasis on attracting, retaining, and empowering talent and is keen to be the destination of choice for the best and brightest talent.
In light of the COVID-19 outbreak and its subsequent impact on the oil and gas sector, how has ADNOC enhanced and updated its approach to technology, and what technological trends will be most important for ADNOC Group?
Technology has played a key role in reinforcing our operational efficiency and enabling us to respond with agility and speed to the challenges presented by the pandemic. It ensured we stayed connected with all our sites and employees as most of my office-based colleagues transitioned to remote working as part of our safety precautions. In fact, between March and May, we clocked 1.2 million one-to-one and group calls and logged 30 million minutes of video meetings as 99% of our office-based employees connected remotely. The durability of our digital infrastructure is a testament to the comprehensive digital transformation we started a few years ago. As part of this process, we have made several strategic investments in advanced technology and artificial intelligence. Our Panorama Digital Command Center is a prime example. It gives us real-time visibility across our operations and drives value by giving us actionable, accurate data to inform quicker decision making. In fact, it has generated over USD1 billion in business value since its inception three years ago. That said, Panorama is just one of many digital initiatives we have introduced over the past four years. Predictive analytics is helping to significantly reduce our maintenance costs and avoid system failures. Big data is accelerating our decision-making in volatile market conditions. Blockchain is generating valuable efficiencies by transforming how we track the transaction of every hydrocarbon molecule we produce, from first oil to final sale. And most recently, we formed AIQ, an artificial intelligence joint venture with Group 42, to focus on developing and commercializing AI products and applications for the oil and gas industry. These initiatives are delivering tangible value for us. For example, we have achieved cost savings of USD2 billion over the past five years by leveraging advanced technologies and digitization to enhance drilling efficiencies and optimize drilling operations. As we deliver our 2030 strategy, we will continue to relentlessly focus our efforts on pursuing new technological opportunities where it is good for our business and creates value.
How do you assess the key factors and characteristics that have underlined ADNOC Group's resiliency during these unprecedented times?
ADNOC’s resilience is down to the fact that we are benefiting from the transformation we started four years ago at the direction of the UAE leadership. Over this period, we have focused on improving our performance, strengthening our agility, and reinforcing efficiency throughout our business. Most importantly, we have focused on reducing our costs, and this will continue to be the case. As a result of these steps, we have managed to remain resilient through this downturn while continuing to deliver on our strategic priorities. Our people have also played a crucial role in enabling our resilience. They have demonstrated great dedication and commitment to ensuring we maintain business continuity throughout this period. Of course, our number-one priority has been their health and safety, and we continue to take extra precautions to safeguard their wellbeing, including comprehensive testing, in line with the UAE’s overall response to COVID-19.
With ICV crucial in everything ADNOC does, how does the organization plan to leverage the current window of opportunity to advance the cause of localization?
In-country value is very important to ADNOC and the UAE. It is a powerful mechanism for ensuring more economic value remains in the UAE from
the contracts we award. In short: we want to make sure that what we spend here stays here and helps stimulate the growth of the private sector and the local economy. As part of ADNOC’s CAPEX plan for the next five years, we aim to drive over AED160 billion back into the UAE economy. This represents a substantial financial spillover impact that will create more opportunities for the private sector and support our post-COVID-19 economic growth. It will also catalyze socio-economic development, improve knowledge-transfer, and generate skilled jobs for Emiratis. This target builds on the huge success our ICV program has recorded since we launched it in 2018. With over 4,200 certified suppliers, the program has driven more than AED76 billion back into the UAE’s economy and created more than 2,000 private-sector jobs for Emiratis. And in 2020, we spent AED5 billion on more than 400 local micro, small, and medium enterprises. At a national level, we are expanding strategies that enable domestic manufacturing and enhance the growth of the private sector and strengthen our local industrial base. In fact, ICV represents an important element of the strategy of the new Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology that will be rolled out in partnership with the private sector and in coordination with all relevant stakeholders. Ultimately, the success of this strategy will depend on the close collaboration and engagement between the private and public sectors.
How can ADNOC Group and Abu Dhabi better support the local workforce and entice top talent from abroad as we build the new era of energy and business?
At ADNOC, we place great emphasis on attracting, retaining, and empowering talent. As we navigate these uncertain times, we continue to invest heavily to develop our young talent as we have always regarded people as our greatest asset. Through the ADNOC Future Leaders program, we are nurturing talented individuals that lead the way with agility and resilience, adapt quickly in a world of constant change, and inspire others to go above and beyond. This program is in its third year and so far, it has been very successful. Many of the youth in this program have made vital contributions to enabling ADNOC to deliver a strong performance this year despite the tough market conditions.
A major part of this new era will also be sustainability and renewable energy. What are ADNOC Group’s plans and priorities in further integrating sustainability measures into the group’s operations and business activities?
Sustainability is at the heart of ADNOC’s operations. In fact, one of our most important founding values is our commitment to responsible production. This closely aligns with the UAE’s overall approach to its energy portfolio. At ADNOC, we are exploring expanding our portfolio into clean energy, particularly Hydrogen, which we could produce at scale using our existing infrastructure. At the same time, we have begun a 500% expansion of our Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage program so that by 2030 we will capture 5 million tons of CO2 annually. This supports our objective of reducing our greenhouse gas intensity by 25% over the next 10 years. So in short, while ADNOC will primarily remain an oil and gas company, we will play an active role in supporting responsible production and integrated energy mix. Having said that, outside of ADNOC, the UAE continues to leverage its energy expertise to play an influential role as a catalyst for and an incubator of clean energy and sustainability. We are a pioneer in renewable energy through Abu Dhabi’s Future Energy Company, Masdar, which has made significant investments in solar and wind power regionally and around the world. We are home to two of the world’s largest solar projects—Noor Abu Dhabi and the Mohamed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in Dubai. And on top of that, in August 2020 the UAE become the first peaceful nuclear energy operator in the Arab world with the Barakah plant.
How does ADNOC plan to deploy its recently announced USD122-billion CAPEX?
ADNOC’s CAPEX plan for the next five years will enable us to invest responsibly to deliver smart growth across our full value chain to create a more profitable upstream, a more valuable downstream, and a more sustainable and economic gas supply, all underpinned by more proactive and adaptive marketing. It will also ensure that we drive greater value from our assets and resources for the benefit of the UAE. In upstream, we are boosting our production capacity to 5 million barrels per day by 2030 and unlocking huge volumes of natural gas to enable gas self-sufficiency for the UAE. At the same time, we are expanding our downstream to transform Ruwais into a globally competitive chemical and industrial hub and enhance the UAE’s industrial base. And we are strengthening our marketing and trading capabilities to further stretch the value from every barrel we produce, refine, and sell. These objectives underpin our 2030 strategy and will ensure ADNOC maintains its competitiveness and industry leadership position over the next 50 years.
“ADNOC’s resilience is down to the fact that we are benefiting from the transformation we started four years ago at the direction of the UAE leadership.”