Signing MOU with ADNOC

• Region: The Middle East
• Energy and Natural Resources

1. The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC; Governor: Hiroshi Okuda) signed today a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), the national oil company of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) for further strengthening of their comprehensive strategic partnership.
    
2. ADNOC, a Government of Abu Dhabi state owned company, conducts oil and gas businesses in Abu Dhabi, which produces most of the oil and gas in UAE. This MOU expands and develops the scope of the previous MOUs signed between JBIC and ADNOC in April 2007^*1 and November 2010^*2. In particular, the two signatory parties mutually re-confirmed in the MOU that the key objective of financial support to be provided by JBIC is the acquisition of new concessions and renewal of existing concessions by Japanese oil developing companies operating in Abu Dhabi.
    
3. The Innovative Strategy for Energy and the Environment (September 2012) decided by the Energy and Environment Council, established under the Council on National Policy Unit of the Government of Japan, called for building and strengthening comprehensive and mutually beneficial bilateral relations under the Strategy for Securing Natural Resources^*3. In this context, the UAE is an important country for Japan's resource strategy, since it has been a stable source of crude oil to Japan for more than 30 years. In addition, the UAE is one of the few countries that allows the entry of foreign-affiliated oil companies to operate on the basis of concession agreements. Also, part of the crude oil produced in Abu Dhabi can be loaded without using ship transport through the Strait of Hormuz, as the result of the commissioning of the Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline (Fujairah Oil Pipeline), which has increased its strategic importance.
    
4. The signing of this MOU will strengthen bilateral ties between Japan and a country endowed with strategically important resources to Japan and is also in line with the Japanese government's energy and environment policy. By further strengthening ties with ADNOC through the signing of this MOU, JBIC intends to support Japanese companies' efforts for the acquisition of new concessions and renewal of existing concessions from the sidelines, thereby helping secure a stable supply of energy resources to Japan.

Note

1. *1 See Press Release on May 1, 2007.
2. *2 See Press Release on November 4, 2010.
3. *3 In the Strategy for Securing Natural Resources reported at the 15^th Ministerial Meeting on the Overseas Deployment of Integrated Infrastructure Systems held in June 2012, the UAE was designated one of the important countries/regions in the oil and natural gas sector. The Strategy also pointed out the need to "deal with resource-endowed countries by the government as a whole and support financing."
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