UPPER ZAKUM FIELD UPDATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABU DHABI 000195 SIPDIS DEPT FOR NEA/RA, NEA/ARP, INR/EC, EB/IEP, EB/CBA USDOE FOR INT'L AFFAIRS - COBURN, ALSO CALIENDO USDOE FOR OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY - RHONDA HUDOME USDOC FOR 1000/OC/ USDOC FOR 4520/ITA/IEP/ONE USDOC FOR 4530/ITA/MAC/ONE/DGUGLIELMI 4500/ITA/MAC/DAS/WILLIAMSON 3131/CS/OIO/ANESA E.O. 12958: DECL 01/06/17 TAGS: EPET PGOV BEXP ENRG ECON EINV TC SUBJECT: UPPER ZAKUM FIELD UPDATE ¶1. (U) Classified by Ambassador Marcelle M. Wahba, for reasons 1.5 (B) and (D). This cable contains business proprietary information. Please protect. ¶2. (C) In late December, Ambassador and Econchief met with Exxon Mobil (Al-Khalij) President Frank Kemnetz, who provided an update on the status of the Upper Zakkum project. According to Kemnetz, the Supreme Petroleum Council (SPC) had not yet met to decide on which of the bidders (Exxon/Mobil, BP, JODCO, Chevron/Texaco, Shell and Total) would win the bid. He said that he suspected that the UAE would split the project among more than one company. In that case, he wanted to stress that U.S. companies were underrepresented in the UAE with only about 15% of the foreign presence. The Europeans, he said, had about 60% of the foreign presence in the UAE. He asked that the Ambassador take advantage of opportunities to stress that - other considerations being equal - should the UAE decide to split up the tender, that it consider the fact that U.S. companies were under-represented in the UAE. ¶3. (C) On January 5, the Ambassador met with Mohammed Habroush Al-Suwaidi, the Chairman of National Bank of Abu Dhabi and an influential member of Abu Dhabi's Supreme Petroleum Council. During the meeting, she mentioned that our industry contacts have praised ADNOC's efforts to create a level playing field in the bidding process and to evaluate competing proposals fairly. She then raised the issue of the U.S.'s historical under- representation in the UAE oil sector. Al-Suwaidi agreed that U.S. companies were under-represented in the field and said that he personally saw a need to even the balance. He stressed that the SPC had yet to meet on Upper Zakkum, but that in his opinion, Exxon/Mobil is a very strong contender. ¶4. (C) Comment: This is potentially good news for U.S. companies. We have long heard that Exxon is one of the front-runners. This is an encouraging indication that at least one U.S. company is being seriously considered for this significant project. Wahba