As per the concession agreement, which is valid for 40 years, the German oil and gas company will contribute 10% of the project capital and operational development expenses associated with the Ghasha ultra sour gas project.
The signing of the agreements makes Wintershall the first German oil and gas company to win a stake in an Abu Dhabi concession area.
Wintershall CEO Mario Mehren said: “Natural gas production in Abu Dhabi complements our existing portfolio in an ideal way. We have decades of experience to offer in safely developing sour gas fields.
“We will contribute our technical know-how, strength in implementing projects and cost-effectiveness, in Abu Dhabi, in the coming decades.”
Located in the Ghasha Concession, the offshore gas project aims at exploiting the Arab basin, which is believed to have multiple trillions of standard cubic feet of recoverable gas.
Expected to see a multi-billion US dollar investment, the Ghasha ultra sour gas project will see the development of the Hail, Ghasha, Dalma and other offshore fields in the concession.
The ultra sour gas mega project is anticipated to have a production of more than 1.5 billion cubic feet of gas per day once it is brought online somewhere around 2025. This production will be enough to supply electricity to over two million homes, said ADNOC.
The offshore gas project will also be able to produce more than 120,000 barrels of oil and high value condensates per day.
UAE Minister of State and ADNOC Group CEO Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber said: “In common with ADNOC, Wintershall has extensive experience of appraising and developing ultra-sour gas resources in technically complex fields.
“It is a partnership in which each company will benefit from the experience of the other as, together, we optimize costs and ensure we extract the maximum value from all the available gas resources. It builds on our long experience of sour gas production and strengthens our ambition to establish a center of excellence, in Abu Dhabi, for sour gas development.”
Earlier this month, ADNOC awarded a stake of 25% in the Ghasha ultra sour gas project to Italian oil and gas giant Eni.