Emirates National Oil Company said yesterday that Ali Al Jarwan will be the new head of its Dragon Oil subsidiary.
Mr Al Jarwan, a long-serving executive at Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), was until last year the chief executive of Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company (Adma-Opco), which is one of Adnoc’s two main offshore oil concessions.
Enoc, which is owned by the Dubai Government and chaired by Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance, bought out minority shareholders in Dragon Oil at the end of 2015 as part of a strategy to create a fully integrated oil company after the liberalisation of the UAE’s fuel market.
Dragon Oil’s main asset is the offshore Cheleken field in Turkmenistan that produces about 100,000 barrels per day. It also has prospects in Iraq and North Africa. Enoc has said it plans to expand and diversify Dragon Oil’s upstream portfolio by acquiring assets that are in their development stage.
Enoc is also expanding its refinery in Dubai and its retail network in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Mr Al Jarwan worked in a number of roles at Adnoc since starting as a petroleum engineer in 1979 and had been head of Adma-Opco since 2006. He earned a petroleum engineering degree from the University of Tulsa, Oklahoma, as well as an MBA from the International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Saif Al Falasi, Enoc group chief executive, had been acting chief executive of Dragon Oil since January when Abdul Al Khalifa, a former Saudi Aramco executive, stepped down.
Adnoc last year merged Adma-Opco with Zakum Development Co (Zadco) to form one company under Mr Al Jarwan’s successor, Yasser Al Mazrouei, to oversee the development of its major offshore assets.
amcauley@thenational.ae
