Ashurst advises ADNOC on launch of its new world-scale gas company, ADNOC Gas
23 March 2023
Global law firm Ashurst has advised Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) on the establishment of ADNOC Gas, a world-scale gas processing, operations and marketing company, which launched on 1 January, 2023.
The flagship company combines the operations, maintenance and marketing of the ADNOC Gas Processing and ADNOC LNG businesses into one global consolidated business. The global player has gas processing capacity of ~10 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day (SCFD), and will serve a wider range of domestic and international customers with an expanding portfolio of gas products.
ADNOC Gas will operate eight processing sites both onshore and offshore with a pipeline network of over 3,250km.
Ashurst advised as lead external counsel on all aspects of this industry-shaping transaction.
On 13 March, 2023, ADNOC proceeded with a heavily oversubscribed $2.5 billion initial public offering of a 5% stake in ADNOC Gas on the ADX, which implied a market capitalisation of around $50 billion.
Lead partner Simon Fraser, commented: "We are thrilled to have worked with the excellent ADNOC legal and business teams to deliver this first formative step of the ADNOC Gas journey. ADNOC is a dynamic player in the global energy market and the formation of ADNOC Gas as a world-scale natural gas market participant is a transformative milestone for ADNOC and the United Arab Emirates. We are very proud to have worked with ADNOC on this project, and we look forward to continuing to support ADNOC and ADNOC Gas in the next stages of this journey."
The Ashurst team was led by UAE-based partner Simon Fraser, who leads the Ashurst Middle East corporate and oil and gas teams. The wider core delivery team included various experts, including projects partner Paul Lingard, London-based competition partner Neil Cunninghame, counsel Nikki van der Meer, senior associates Matt Hartsuyker, Johnson Lo and Adelle Elhosni, and associates Sara Malek and Aaron Ohm, who in turn were supported by the broader global Ashurst network.
