Shutterstock Save for later Print Download Share LinkedIn Twitter Upper Zakum, Abu Dhabi’s largest producing oil field and one of the biggest offshore fields in the world, might be up for another expansion. The giant field in which Exxon Mobil and Inpex are concession partners alongside Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (Adnoc), reached production capacity of 1 million barrels per day in late 2021 — well ahead of a 2024 target. The partners are now understood to be mulling a major expansion that could double capacity to 2 million b/d by the early 2030s. The scope of the project and how large the expansion might be has not been decided. The plan remains in the early stages and will hinge on the concession stakeholders coming to an agreement on key issues, notably fiscal terms, which are presently under discussion, Energy Intelligence understands. But interest among the parties in proceeding with the field's expansion is understood to be strong given its proven reserves of around 50 billion barrels, low production costs and long-term potential. Inpex, whose subsidiary Japan Oil Development Co. (Jodco) started development of Upper Zakum with Adnoc in 1978 and began production in 1982, previously said the field “has lots of room for expanding production capacity in the future.”
