Abu Dhabi launches new pricing mechanism for ADNOC’s Murban crude

Abu Dhabi’s Supreme Petroleum Council (SPC) on Monday launched a new pricing mechanism for ADNOC’s Murban crude, the company’s main onshore crude oil grade.

ADNOC, which will engage with its customers and stakeholders over its implementation, said it expects to put the pricing mechanism into place between the second and third quarters of 2020.

The SPC, Abu Dhabi’s highest governing body, will also list Murban crude as a futures contract on an internationally recognized exchange, the company said in a statement.

The listing, which is part of the company’s 2030 transformation strategy, will enable customers and market participants to “better price, manage and trade their purchases of Murban,” ADNOC Chief Executive Officer Sultan Al Jaber said.

“These landmark changes, the SPC has approved, will make Murban an even more attractive crude to the global market,” he added.

The SPC also reported a surprise rise in ADNOC’s reserves as the UAE’s state-owned oil company drilled dozens of exploration and appraisal wells in the emirate over the past few years.

With the latest increase, UAE now has the 6th largest oil and gas reserves.

This “marks an important milestone in the development of the UAE’s unconventional resources as we execute our integrated gas strategy,” al Jaber said.

The SPC posted an increase in hydrocarbon reserves of 7 billion stock tank barrels of oil and 58 trillion standard cubic feet of conventional gas and the discovery of 160 TSCF of unconventional gas.