ADNOC’s Al Jaber pledges sixfold increase in new U.S. investments

Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, the UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Chief Executive of the state-owned ADNOC oil company, pledged to boost investments in the U.S. by sixfold during a conference in Washington.

Calling for a global overhaul of national power grids to accommodate the massive demands of artificial intelligence, Al Jaber told the Atlantic Council Global Energy Forum on Tuesday that the industry must upgrade its technology while utilizing the broadest menu of resources, including oil, gas, nuclear and renewables.

“You can’t run tomorrow’s technology on yesterday’s grid,” Al Jaber said. “Many of our grids were built for a completely different century.” 

XRG, ADNOC’s new international investment arm, plans to inject some $440 billion into the U.S. energy industry over the next decade, Al Jaber said.

The fund is an investor in Houston, Texas-based NextDecade’s Rio Grande LNG export facility while Abu Dhabi renewable energy company Masdar, partly owned by ADNOC, has developed 5.5GW of production and storage capacity “from coast to coast,”, Al Jaber said.

Touching on the war between Israel and Iran, Al Jaber called on all parties to show restraint. “The United Arab Emirates stands for dialogue, for de-escalation and diplomacy,” he said.

“We reaffirm our belief in peace over provocation, calm over confrontation and progress through partnership, and only partnership,” Al Jaber said.