Abu Dhabi merger would create new, big player in global oil

Abu Dhabi’s proposed merger of two of its largest sovereign investment funds would create a global energy business that produces more oil than OPEC member Libya and with more assets than Houston’s ConocoPhillips.

The Persian Gulf emirate with about 6 percent of the world’s crude reserves will combine Mubadala Development Co. and International Petroleum Investment Co. to cut costs and boost efficiency, the state news agency WAM reported Wednesday. The deal would pool assets of about $135 billion, many of them non-energy-related, and debt of about $42 billion, according to Bloomberg calculations. ConocoPhillips, by comparison, had $97 billion intotal assets as of Dec. 31.

Like other oil producers in the region, Abu Dhabi is struggling to maintain state spending after crude prices fell by half since 2014. A union of Mubadala with IPIC would create an entity akin to integrated oil companies that pump oil and process it into fuel and petrochemicals used to make plastics and consumer goods, according to Robin Mills, chief executive officer of Dubai-based consultant Qamar Energy.

http://fuelfix.com/blog/2016/06/30/abu-dhabi-merger-would-create-new-big-player-in-global-oil/