UAE Oil and Gas jobs

Oil was first discovered in The United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the 1950s. The UAE started exporting crude oil in 1962 from the UAE’s capital, Abu Dhabi and has been a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) since 1967.

The UAE is made up of seven emirates, Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm al-Quwain. Around 38% of the UAE’s GDP is based on oil and gas output, with other areas of the economy including tourism, construction, manufacturing and a services sector helping towards economic diversification.

Crude Oil production and exports

In recent times, the UAE has been the world’s eighth largest crude oil producing country. It is the world’s third largest crude oil exporter behind Saudi Arabia and Russia respectively.

The country is reported to have 97.8 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, with the majority of oil located in Abu Dhabi. Total UAE oil production is around 2.75 million bpd.

Listed below are some of the oil fields in the United Arab Emirates:

Al-Dabbiya
Bab
Bida Al-Qemzan (BQ)
Bu Hasa
Huwaila
Lower Zakum
Murban-Bab
Qusahwira (QW)
Rumaitha
Sahil, Asab and Shah (SAS)
Satah al-Razboot (SARB)
Shanayel
Umm Shaif
Upper Zakum

The Upper Zakum field is the country’s largest oil field. It is the second largest offshore oil field and the fourth largest oil field in the world, located 52 miles offshore to the northwest of Abu Dhabi in the Persian Gulf. The field is estimated to contain 50 billion barrels of oil.

Refining in the UAE

There are five refining facilities in the UAE at the following locations:

Al Ruwais
Umm al-Nar
Jebel Ali
Fujairah
Hamriyah

The Ruwais and Umm al-Nar refineries are operated by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC). The other 3 refineries are operated by Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC), Metro Oil, and Sharjah Oil Refining Co. Fzc. respectively.

A well-developed domestic pipeline network linking oil fields with processing plants and export terminals is present in The UAE. One of the export pipelines in the country is the Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline (ADCOP) which runs 230 miles from Habshan to Fujairah. It provides The UAE with a direct link from its oil fields to the Gulf of Oman, and on to global markets.

Natural Gas in the UAE

The United Arab Emirates is a top 20 Natural Gas producer and has natural gas reserves of over 215 trillion cubic feet (Tcf). In 2012, approximately 93% of the UAE’s 270 billion cubic feet (bcf) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) was exported to Japan. Other importers of UAE natural gas include Spain and South Korea.

Employment opportunities in the UAE oil & gas industry

There is a range of jobs available in the United Arab Emirates oil and gas industry and some of the most commonly placed oil & gas jobs include:

Project Controls jobs
Health, Safety & Environmental jobs
Electrical Engineering jobs
Process Engineering jobs
Piping Engineering jobs
Project Management jobs
Mechanical Engineering jobs
Structural Engineering jobs

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