UAE oil firm ADNOC ADNOC.UL announced on Thursday a gas discovery off Abu Dhabi, the first from the emirate’s offshore exploration concessions.

Interim results from the first exploration well in the Block 2 concession, operated by Italy’s ENI ENI.MI, indicate between 1.5 and 2 trillion standard cubic feet (TSCF) of raw gas in place, ADNOC said in a statement.

A consortium led by ENI and PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP) were awarded the exploration rights for Offshore Block 2 in 2019 as part of ADNOC’s debut competitive block bid round.

“The discovery of material natural gas resources in Offshore Block 2 underscores how ADNOC’s expanded approach to strategic partnerships is enabling us to accelerate the exploration and development of Abu Dhabi’s untapped hydrocarbon resources,” Sultan al-Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and ADNOC Group CEO, said in the statement.

ADNOC launched Abu Dhabi’s first and second competitive block bid rounds in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Maha El Dahan and Nadine Awadalla; editing by Jason Neely and John Stonestreet)