The United Arab Emirates’ largest energy producer plans to sell bonds and acquire assets this year, according to the company’s chief executive.
Bolstered by earnings from its oil and gas businesses, the public company known as Taqa is looking to expand into renewable energy projects as well as its core industries of power generation and water desalination. Abu Dhabi National Energy Co., as it is officially known, posted a one-third jump in profits last year, helped by oil prices that averaged nearly $100 a barrel last year.
“Our focus is on growth,” Jasim Husain Thabet said in an interview in Abu Dhabi. “We are in discussions and if there are deals that bring value to shareholders, we will do it and execute.”
The company is also looking to issue “several hundred million dollars” worth of green bonds for specific projects by 2023, he said.
The United Arab Emirates is hosting COP28, the UN’s main climate summit, this year and one of its key tasks is to get oil producers more involved in discussions on how to curb global warming.
The country was the first in the Persian Gulf to declare a goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Last year, Taqa bought stakes in the UAE’s leading renewable energy company, Masdar, along with Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. Taqa is the main shareholder in Masdar’s solar and wind business, while Adnoc is the main partner in the green hydrogen unit.
Masdar will likely spend in the “stadium” of $50 billion by 2030 to buy solar and wind assets and have stakes in at least 100 gigawatts of power.
“M&A will be a big component of that,” Thabet said.
