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Sharjah buys slice of concession in RAK in hope of gas

By Eva Levesque
Sharjah RAK gas Mahani field SNOC
The Mahani field in Sharjah. Snoc hopes the concession in RAK will be similar
  • 30% stake bought from Eni
  • 30-year partnership signed
  • New gas discovery announced

The state-owned Sharjah National Oil Corporation (Snoc) has acquired a 30 percent stake in a concession located onshore in Ras Al Khaimah from the Italian energy company Eni in the hunt for gas.

Block 7, awarded to Eni in 2021, covers an area of 430 square km and is being actively explored, with drilling of an exploration well.

Hopes are for a discovery similar to the Mahani gas and condensate field next door in Sharjah, where production started in 2021.

After the transaction, Eni will own 60 percent as operator, Snoc will own 30 percent, while RAKGAS will hold 10 percent.

Snoc is one of the UAE’s 10 leading oil and gas companies. 

It manages a portfolio of gas, condensate and LPG assets, operates four gas fields, a gas processing plant at Sajaa, two hydrocarbon liquid storage and export terminals and a network of flow lines and production pipelines that delivers gas to the Northern Emirates.

The company has signed a 30-year partnership deal with Eni for three concessions to explore and develop onshore oil and gas fields in the emirate.

This week it announced this week a new gas discovery in the onshore al Hadiba field. It is the fifth onshore field in Sharjah, in addition to the Al-Saja’a, Kahif, Mahani and Muayed fields.

Hatem Al Mosa, Snoc’s chief executive, said that the latest acquisition in RAK was the company’s first investment outside Sharjah in the search for oil and gas.

Oil and gas activity in RAK is heating up as the emirate hopes for local supplies, although it receives gas through pipelines from Abu Dhabi and Qatar.

Eni conducted exploration activities at offshore Block A last year. In September, PKN Orlen of Poland signed a deal for Block 5.

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