The inaugural Adipec Offshore and Marine Conference, produced and managed by dmg events, kicked off on November 9 in a purpose-built dedicated waterside theatre, the first-of-its-kind in the region, reported Trade Arabia.

The conference complements the new Offshore, Marine and Heavy Equipment Zone at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (Adipec).

The keynote address was delivered by Ali Rashid Al Jarwan, CEO of Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company (Adma-Opco),

According to The National, Al Jarwan said that that Adma-Opco is still spending about US$25b through 2020 to develop a number of huge offshore projects to bring the country’s overall production up from 2.7m b/d last year to 3.5m b/d by the end of 2018.

“This is not the first price cycle in the industry; I’ve seen it five times in my career,” said Mr Al Jarwan. “We have many cost optimisation teams working on it and we cannot afford the very high costs of operation we have seen … but I am happy to see a very healthy offshore industry in Abu Dhabi.”

The offshore element of production growth will account for half the total by the end of 2017 as Adma-Opco develops 11 operating fields, including Zakum, which is the world’s fourth largest oilfield.

“We have never before seen this much drilling and support activity offshore,” Mr Al Jarwan said.