The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) is seeking increased cooperation with Chinese companies across its energy value chain, particularly technology, chemicals and investments.

The group CEO has also discussed potential opportunities for growing its business abroad, on a trip to China, which is a key trading partner of the UAE, with bilateral trade amounting to about $50bn every year.

A press release said Sultan al-Jaber met leaders of key Chinese energy stakeholders, including the China National Petroleum Company (CNPC), Sinochem and Wanhua Chemical Group, as part of Adnoc’s 2030 growth strategy to seek partnerships and co-investment opportunities.

“We are keen to explore how Adnoc can continue to serve the growing demand for energy, and, in particular, for chemical and petrochemical products in China, as a key growth market,” Al-Jaber has been quoted as saying.

Last year, Chinese energy players have claimed rights to make investments in key upstream operations of Adnoc. In February 2017, CNPC and China CEFC Energy were awarded 8 per cent and 4 per cent stakes respectively in Abu Dhabi’s onshore oil acreage (formerly known as Adco). In November 2017, Adnoc and CNPC signed a framework agreement covering various areas of potential collaboration, including offshore opportunities and sour gas development projects.

On the other hand, Adnoc too is focused on market expansion in China and Asia as a whole, where demand for petrochemicals and plastics, including light-weight automotive components, essential utility piping and cable insulation, is forecast to double by 2040. China is the largest customer of Borouge, a petrochemicals joint venture between Adnoc and Austria’s Borealis, accounting for 1.2 million tonnes per year of polyolefins, equal to one third of its sales worldwide.

Group wide, as part of the 2030 strategy, Adnoc is undertaking a major downstream expansion aimed at tripling petrochemical production by 2025. More than 40 per cent of a $109bn investment program will be directed at achieving this goal over the next five years, as Adnoc continues to work on the Ruwais downstream complex to create the largest refining and chemical site in the world.

The Abu Dhabi company is also on track to expand crude production capacity to 3.5 million barrels a-day, a key aspect of its objective to remain a key oil supplier to the global consumer market, particularly to maintain its share of the Asian market.

Al-Jaber has also met executives from information and communications technology (ICT) provider Huawei, during a visit to the Zhongguancun technology hub, in the Haidan District of Beijing. As part of its push towards digitalising operations in order to drive efficiency, Adnoc is studying concepts such as machine learning, neural networks, predictive data and artificial intelligence, and seeking to partner with service providers such as Huawei to evaluate implementation of these technologies.