UOG, the Arab Emirates group, will chose one company out of five western oil companies by the end of the year to replace US group Enron in the Dolphin gas project, in which French oil group TotalFinaElf is a partner. The companies are Conoco, Exxon Mobil, Occidental Petroleum, BP and Royal Duch Shell. The Dolphin project, which will need USD 4 billion of investments, is aimed at providing the UAE with natural gas from Qatar, which has the third largest natural gas reserves in the world. Since Enron’s withdrawal from the project, UOG has controlled 75.5% of the consortium, the remainder being held by TotalFinaElf. UOG will sell a share of the stake to a future partner. – In other news, it has been reported that the UAE is to invest 1.2 billion dollars in a major new oil field straddling Sharjah and Fujairah. Al-Khaleej, quoting sources at the oil department in Sharjah, said drilling on the first wells would start in December and the project would need investment of around USD 1.2 billion.
