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Abu Dhabi’s government has awarded Malaysia’s state oil company Petronas full exploration rights for Onshore Block 2 in the emirate.

Onshore Block 2 is located within the Al-Dhafra region of Abu Dhabi, covering an area of about 7,320 square kilometres. Under the concession agreement issued by Abu Dhabi’s Supreme Council for Financial and Economic Affairs (SCFEA), Petronas will hold 100% equity and assume operatorship during the exploration period.

This is the third hydrocarbon exploration agreement Petronas has won in Abu Dhabi. The Malaysian firm previously won full exploration rights for Unconventional Block 1 in 2022 and Unconventional Block 5 in 2024.

Onshore Block 2 was initially offered in Abu Dhabi’s first-ever upstream licensing round launched in 2018, and conducted by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), but went unsold.

Abu Dhabi included the block in the second bid round in 2019, but had, so far, been unsuccessful in attracting foreign exploration and production firms, who invested in the other blocks on offer.

The award of exploration rights for Onshore Block 2 to Petronas, therefore, concludes Abu Dhabi’s first and second upstream concession licensing rounds.

Separately, SCFEA recently awarded an Indian consortium of state-owned companies, Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, a production concession agreement for Onshore Block 1 in the emirate.

The production concession agreement grants the Indian consortium, known as Urja Bharat, 100% concession rights for Onshore Block 1, which covers a total area of up to 6,162 sq km.

Onshore Block 1 was among six hydrocarbon blocks offered in 2018.

The award of the production licence follows 100% exploration rights for Onshore Block 1 that Urja Bharat won in March 2019. The Indian consortium invested nearly $164m during the exploration phase.