His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, chaired a meeting of the Executive Committee of the ADNOC Board of Directors at the company’s headquarters on September 8, 2025.
During the meeting, Sheikh Khaled reviewed ADNOC’s financial performance and strategic priorities. The agenda included deploying artificial intelligence (AI) as part of efforts to become an AI-enabled energy company, pursuing domestic growth projects, expanding internationally through its investment arm XRG, diversifying revenue streams, and maximizing value from Abu Dhabi’s oil and gas resources.
Sheikh Khaled emphasized maintaining ADNOC’s development strategies to ensure resilience and competitiveness. He said this would help generate and maximize long-term value in a changing global energy landscape.
He highlighted that international expansion is central to ADNOC’s strategy. In 2025, through XRG, ADNOC completed several international deals such as Arcius Energy—a joint venture with bp for upstream gas in Egypt—acquired a stake in Azerbaijan’s Absheron gas and condensate field, and participated in Offshore Block 1 in Turkmenistan.
The committee also evaluated how ADNOC is developing new revenue streams by expanding trading activities and exploring digital asset opportunities while maximizing value from oil and gas production. A recent milestone was marked by opening a trading office in Geneva, Switzerland.
Sheikh Khaled noted that since launching its trading businesses five years ago, ADNOC has created significant value for the UAE. The ventures have provided UAE Nationals with skills in international commodity trading while strengthening the country’s role as a global trading hub. He gave directives to further leverage AI to optimize trading operations, improve efficiency and competitiveness, and future-proof operations.
Updates were provided on business continuity measures and efforts to empower UAE Nationals for leadership roles within the organization.
The meeting also covered ADNOC’s acceleration of unconventional gas development across fields like Ruwais Diyab. Progress is attributed to enhanced productivity, drilling efficiency, cost reductions driven by technology adoption—including AI—and continued de-risking efforts for unconventional resources.
Sheikh Khaled directed ADNOC to expand collaboration with international partners aimed at unlocking more value from Abu Dhabi’s hydrocarbon resources. This supports goals around national gas self-sufficiency while addressing rising global energy demand.
Reflecting on history, Sheikh Khaled noted that 2025 marks 75 years since oil exploration began in Abu Dhabi with its first exploratory well at Ras Al Sadr. He stated this milestone demonstrates “the UAE’s resilience, vision and pursuit of excellence” while highlighting how it enabled economic diversification: “ADNOC continues to responsibly harness the nation’s oil and gas resources to create lasting value.”
ADNOC is also building new domestic value chains through TA’ZIZ—a joint venture with ADQ—which will produce chemicals including methanol, low-carbon ammonia, caustic soda, ethylene dichloride, vinyl chloride monomer and polyvinyl chloride during phase one at Al Ruwais Industrial City. Five out of six projects are under construction; the contract for the sixth project will be awarded later this year. The ammonia plant is expected to be commissioned by late 2026.
Attendees included Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber (Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology; ADNOC Managing Director & Group CEO), Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh (Minister of Health & Prevention), Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak (Managing Director & Group CEO Mubadala Investment Company), and Jassem Mohamed Bu Ataba Al Zaabi (Chairman Abu Dhabi Department of Finance).
