Abu Dhabi’s State Oil Company Looks Beyond Oil

“All the News That’s Fit to Print” National WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2026 By Stanley Reed / Photographs by Natalie Naccache Until Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber was tapped to overhaul Abu Dha­ bi’s national energy company, it had been content to rake in the cash from large, low-cost oil fields. His mandate was to modernize the company, known as ADNOC, to make sure it could continue to sustain the economy and geo­ political ambitions of the United Arab Emirates. Mr. Al Jaber, who was appoint­ ed in 2016 by Sheikh Moham­ med bin Zayed, then the crown prince, has helped put ADNOC on the map as a global deal mak­ er, establishing the Emirates as a brasher rival to Saudi Arabia in the Organization of the Petro­ leum Exporting Countries. The oil giant has also given the Emir­ ates the money and muscle to in­ tervene in countries like Sudan and Yemen, raising tensions with neighbors like the Saudis. “He’s totally transformed the company and the way that the oil sector is managed,” said Ben Cahill, a director at the Center for Energy and Environmental Systems Analysis at the Univer­ sity of Texas. Now ADNOC, which was founded in 1971, is pushing be­ yond oil, a risky phase for the company. It aims for internation­ al acquisitions, especially in nat­ ural gas, where it aspires to be in the top five suppliers globally, and chemicals, renewables and other sectors. Mr. Al Jaber said ADNOC was open to participating in the de­ velopment of natural gas re­ sources in Venezuela, where the United States is trying to drum up investment after forcibly removing the South American country’s president and taking control of its energy industry. Through ADNOC’s acquisition arm, XRG, which Mr. Al Jaber set up in late 2024, the compa­ Abu Dhabi’s State Oil Company Looks Beyond Oil Having reshaped the company, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber wants to expand internationally, particularly in natural gas, chemicals and renewables.Jonathan Gray, the president of Blackstone, and his wife, Mindy, are active philanthropists, and first met the president of Tel Aviv University last year. Credit: Patrick T. Fallon/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber has helped put ADNOC, Abu Dhabi’s state oil company, on the map as a global deal maker.

National ny is buying into a U.S. lique­ fied natural gas plant called Rio Grande LNG. XRG also has stakes in gas properties in countries including Azerbaijan, Egypt and Mozambique. In other hedges against oil, AD­ NOC is working with OMV, an Austrian energy company that is partly owned by ADNOC, to cre­ ate a global chemicals business called Borouge Group Interna­ tional. Mr. Al Jaber has been a supporter of Abu Dhabi’s nuclear efforts, including the construc­ tion of a four-reactor site that provides nearly a quarter of elec­ tricity in the Emirates. He helped found Masdar, a renewable en­ ergy developer part-owned by ADNOC that has plans to expand as most other oil giants, like BP and Shell, are backing away from renewables, saying such projects are not sufficiently profitable. Some industry experts say ADNOC may be trying to do too much, too fast. “They are trying to do a lot all at once,” said Robin Mills, chief executive of Qamar Energy, a consulting firm in Dubai that works for ADNOC. ADNOC has plans to expand into renewable energy projects as most other oil giants are backing away. Mr. Al Jaber said he wanted to transform ADNOC “into a globally competitive energy company.” Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, has grown into a beachfront metropolis. A large solar farm in Abu Dhabi. The Emirates is aggressively investing in solar and other renewable energy projects. Production has risen even as Mr. Al Jaber has trimmed ADNOC’s work force.

Mr. Al Jaber, 52, is known as “the doctor” among ADNOC staff in a nod to his Ph.D. in eco­ nomics from Coventry Univer­ sity in England. In 2023, he led the COP climate conference in the Emirates while, controver­ sially, retaining his role as chief executive of ADNOC, one of the world’s largest oil producers. He has many other jobs, including a cabinet post as minister of indus­ try and advanced technology. “The main driver behind this was to transform ADNOC from a traditional, conventional, na­ tional oil company into a globally competitive energy company,” he said in an interview in his office overlooking the Persian Gulf. While the Trump administra­ tion has pushed back against alternative energy projects like wind farms in the United States, the Emiratis do not see a conflict between oil and gas and renew­ able energy. Having the financial firepower to develop wind and solar proj­ ects “is seen as part of being National A natural gas drilling site in Abu Dhabi. ADNOC aims to be a top global producer of natural gas. A natural gas drilling site in Abu Dhabi. ADNOC aims to be a top global producer of natural gas. Mr. Al Jaber’s mandate was to modernize ADNOC to sustain the economy and geopolitical ambitions of the Emirates. ADNOC has raised billions from investors by selling stakes in assets, a push that executives say has sharpened the company’s professionalism. Musabbeh Al Kaabi is the ADNOC executive responsible for the company’s oil and gas production.

National dominant and a way to project power, especially across emerg­ ing markets,” said Karen E. Young, a senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. That said, oil revenue continues to underpin Abu Dhabi’s econo­ my, underwriting around 62 per­ cent of government funding, ac­ cording to Oxford Economics. To extract more from Abu Dhabi’s resources, Mr. Al Jaber brought in new international companies like Occidental Pe­ troleum, Italy’s Eni and EOG Resources, an American shale driller, for their expertise in natural gas and other areas. He has also invested in artificial intelligence to fine-tune AD­ NOC’s operations. As fellow OPEC members like Venezuela and Nigeria have struggled to maintain production levels, the Emirates is one of the few with the money and ability to keep growing. Increasing output has beefed up the Emirates’ clout in the OPEC Plus producers group, helping it win increases in its production quota. In talks with other producers, there is always the implicit threat that the Emir­ ates, perhaps the most influen­ tial OPEC member after Saudi Arabia, will break ranks. The Emirates has raised its oil output more than 10 percent in the past two years, to 3.6 million barrels a day, according to the International Energy Agency. It is now the third-largest produc­ er in OPEC, after Saudi Arabia and Iraq. The production has increased even as Mr. Al Jaber has reduced ADNOC’s work force, which has around 50,000 employees, 15,000 fewer than in 2016. Wood Mackenzie, a consult­ ing firm, estimates that over the next decade, seven of the larger Western oil companies will col­ lectively see their production in the Emirates rise about a quar­ ter, making it their second-larg­ est source of oil and gas after the United States. ADNOC has raised billions in capital from institutional inves­ tors like Global Infrastructure Partners and KKR, through deals like selling interests in its pipeline network. Dealing with Wall Street firms created a needed culture shock, company executives say. Being challenged by tough-mind­ ed financiers at board meetings “increases the professionalism of people who had never been facing institutions like that,” said Klaus Froehlich, ADNOC’s chief investment officer. Influenced by the initial public offering of Saudi Arabia’s nation­ al oil company, Saudi Aramco, Mr. Al Jaber carved off six units of ADNOC for public markets, listing small chunks of them on the Abu Dhabi Securities Ex­ change, starting in 2017. “Representing a public corpo­ ration to investors and media is a novel experience for most of the chief executives,” Mr. Mills of Qamar Energy wrote in the newsletter Arabian Gulf Busi­ ness Insight. Copyright © 2026 by The New York Times Company. Reprinted with permission. For subscriptions to The New York Times, please call 1-800-NYTIMES. Visit us online at www.nytimes.com. For more information about reprints and licensing visit wrightsmedia.com. (2705711)