The UAE has taken a prominent position among industrialised countries thanks to the vision and wise policies of the late president, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

In agreement with this vision, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) was incorporated as a state owned company on November 27, 1971, to operate in all areas of oil and gas industry.
In a little over three decades, Adnoc has steadily broadened its activities through various subsidiaries in the fields of exploration and production, support services to oil and gas industry, oil refining and gas processing, chemicals and petrochemicals, maritime transportation and refined products and distribution.
During the last five years, Adnoc continued its expansions in upstream and downstream sectors.
Upstream activities include exploration, development, production, and support services to the oil and gas industry. Downstream, Adnoc is involved in oil refining and gas processing, petrochemicals and chemicals, marine transportation, and the distribution of refined petroleum products.
Other activities include marketing and research and development. Adnoc and its Group of companies managed throughout the years to improve their business practices by introducing new technologies thus achieving international recognition for its people related health, safety and environment (HSE) initiatives.
Operational achievements
Adnoc's recent efforts in the exploration and production field concentrated on assessing and exploiting undiscovered reserves and optimising hydrocarbon recovery by improving the reservoir management, while ensuring the protection of the environment.
Adnoc has also acquired several high-resolution 3D seismic surveys in offshore and onshore Abu Dhabi. In Zakum field, 1,800 sq km of high resolution 3D Ocean Bottom Cable (OBC) on the sea floor was acquired and this was considered the largest ever ocean bottom 3D seismic survey in the world acquired over a producing field.
In Hair Dalma and Open Area C in offshore Abu Dhabi, 400 sq km and in Mubarraz and Yeser fields,700 sq km of high resolution 3D seismic surveys were acquired using OBC technique on the sea floor, while in Western offshore Abu Dhabi 500 sq km of high resolution 3D vibroseis land survey were acquired, and in Bab, Huwaila, SE Abu Dhabi, Qusahwira, Bu Hasa and Asab, 6,500 sq km of high resolution 3D vibroseis land survey were acquired.
Further to the acquisition of new seismic data, special geophysical studies were carried out. Among these, a multi-component 4C data acquisition test in Zakum field and a time lapse 4D seismic test acquired in Asab field for reservoir monitoring.
In exploration drilling, a total of 8.6 million feet were drilled during the past five years with major achievements recorded in horizontal drilling operations. Neatly 1,000 wells have been drilled and DTL was introduced in drilling and work over operations and thus helped improve efficiency and reduced costs by 35 per cent and 25 per cent respectively.
In oil development operations, significant progress was made both offshore and onshore.
Major onshore oil developments in recent years included the North East Bab phase 1 (NEB-1) project designed to increase production from Al Dhabb'iya, Rumaitha and Shanayel fields.
As for offshore developments, these include Umm Shaif field crestal gas injection, Upper and Lower Zakum fields pilot gas injection, Umm Al Anbar flared sour gas re-injection and Bunduq associated gas injection projects.
Gas development projects covered: onshore, Asab Gas Development (AGD) and onshore Gas Development Phase II (OGD-II), and offshore, included the ongoing offshore Khuff Gas Development (OKGD) project
In oil refining, operations have undergone major expansion to keep pace with increasing regional and international demand.
Two new world-class condensate splitters with a total design capacity of 280,000 barrels per day (bpd) were commissioned at the Ruwais refinery, more than doubling the refining capacity to over half a million bpd thus making Adnoc one of the region's biggest operators.
Other achievements include the expansion of the Sulphur Handling Terminal (SHT) where liquid sulphur is granulated and shipped through a separate jetty and which is expected to increase SHT capacity from 4,250 tonnes per day (tpd) to 6,250 tpd, the expansion of the General Utilities Plant (GUP) and the replacement of the existing Sulphur Recovery Unit (SRU) at the Ruwais refinery and the revamp of the hydrocracker unit at Ruwais which is currently still under way.
In gas processing, Adgas has succeeded in achieving sales of over 39 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), while Gasco completed a number of gas development projects including AGD-I, OGD-11 as well as installing a new state of the art digital control system and upgrading of the production facilities at the Ruwais plant.
Other developments include ethane recovery maximisation at Habshan, the Habshan-Ruwais liquid sulphur pipeline, Bu Hasa facilities upgrade and integrated control systems (HICS) project, Asab-Bab integrated control systems (ABIOS) project phase, phase 2 of the gas supply to Dubai, and the offshore gas export project (OGEP).
In the petrochemicals sector, achievements included the implementation of a 4-bar absorber project by Fertil to reduce ammonia and carbon dioxide emissions and increase their availability for enhancing urea production.
HSE achievements
Adnoc has prioritised environmental protection during the last five years by reducing corporate Lost Time Injury Frequency (LTIF) down to 0,55 per million man hours worked, minimising air emissions especially sulphur dioxide, methane and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions, reducing operational flaring and gas venting, phasing out halon,re-injecting hazardous components found in drilling waters into disposal wells, and collecting hazardous waste for centralised storage at Ruwais Hazardous Waste Storage Facility (HWSF).
Key achievements in the past five years also include the introduction of unleaded gasoline and a new initiative for the disposal of the hazardous waste, i.e. the BeAAT project which will handle around 6,000 tonnes of hazardous waste at a new waste plant due to come into operation at Ghayathi by the end of 2004. Adnoc put in place policies and guidelines to ensure the preservation of the environment and the safeguarding of the health of its employees, neighbouring communities, and customers.
The company completely revised and introduced new guidelines for the Health, Safety and Environment Management System (HSEMS) which was initially introduced in July 1997 and its goal is to ensure that HSE considerations were firmly embedded in the day-to-day operations.
Furthermore HSE Codes of Practice (Cops) were introduced in 2003 as a final step in completeing the  Group's HSE management framework. These are high-level standard setting documents that reflect best regional and international HSE management and regulatory practice.
Also, Group Risk Management Guidelines were introduced in 2000 with the aim of improving HSE performance.
Organisational achievements
Adnoc has continued to place great importance on the implementation of the highest international standards across all its activities, in order to guide the Group's strategic direction and ongoing diversification and provide management guidance and support for all Adnoc operating companies.
Thus the company has revised and updated the Competence Assurance management System (CAMS) which is now adopted by all operating companies and guidelines for "Structured Skills Development" using a competency based approach has also been updated.
Both aim at ensuring that the right combination of awareness, knowledge, skills, and attitude is present in order to enable performance to the required standard in each job.
Regarding the recruitment and development of UAE nationals, over 3,000 UAE nationals were recruited during the last five years and Adnoc supported their development by expanding the Adnoc Technical Institute and playing a leading role in establishing the Petroleum Institute in collaboration with the Colorado School of Mines, and it currently has around 384 students enrolled.
In addition to that, Adnoc created the scholarship programme in which around 120 UAE secondary school students, with excellent records and achievements, are selected annually to study abroad in fields related to the oil and gas industry. By the end of 2004 the programme supervised more than 600 students.
Accompanying all these developments was the application of modern administrative systems and the latest information technologies featuring one of the most advanced computer processors in the Middle East, which listed Adnoc among the largest 500 international companies using the sophisticated computer system.
Economic achievements
Between 2000 and 2004 Adnoc continued to support Abu Dhabi's key contribution to the importance of the UAE in the regional and global energy markets.
Adnoc's oil production capacity has risen to over two million bpd ranking it among the top 10 oil producers in the world
As for gas reserves, the company continues to play a major role in capitalising on the UAE's vast gas reserves and the report stipulates that between 2003 and 2007 an estimated $1,000 million per year is planned to be invested in new gas infrastructures.