By: OrePulse

Thailand's PTTEP and Italy's Eni have folded their respective 10% stakes in Abu Dhabi's Ghasha offshore sour gas concession into a newly created joint company, Seela Energies, while each retains an indirect 10% interest in the project, the companies said.

The restructuring leaves overall ownership of the Ghasha concession unchanged. Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) continues to operate the project and holds a 55% stake, while Lukoil holds the remaining 10%, an interest it acquired from OMV in 2025.

Ghasha ranks among the largest offshore sour gas developments under construction anywhere in the world, combining output from nine fields into a single integrated scheme off the Abu Dhabi coast.

PTTEP and Eni said all regulatory, government and partner approvals required for the stake transfer had been obtained. The two companies described pooling their holdings into a single joint venture as a way to ease access to project financing and to share technical expertise as they pursue further growth in the Middle East. Neither company's underlying 10% economic interest in Ghasha changes as a result of the transfer; what changes is the corporate vehicle through which that interest is held.

The move follows a structured financing agreement of up to $11 billion signed in December 2025 by ADNOC, Eni and PTTEP to help fund development of the Hail and Ghasha fields. Seela Energies gives PTTEP and Eni a single vehicle through which to hold their combined interest in that financing arrangement.

ADNOC was awarded the Ghasha concession for a 40-year term in November 2018. It spans nine offshore fields in the Gulf and is being developed to produce more than 1.8 billion cubic feet of gas per day and 150,000 barrels per day of oil and condensate once fully onstream, above an earlier ADNOC target of roughly 1.5 billion cubic feet per day by the end of the decade.

Ghasha is classified as a sour gas development, meaning the reservoirs contain high levels of hydrogen sulfide that require specialized processing before the gas can be sold. The project is being built using artificial islands rather than conventional offshore platforms and includes carbon capture facilities designed to handle about 1.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.

Formation of Seela Energies does not change ADNOC's role as operator or the overall ownership split among the four parties: ADNOC at 55%, Lukoil at 10%, and PTTEP and Eni now holding their combined 20% indirectly through the new joint venture. PTTEP and Eni did not disclose a timeline for the new venture to begin independent operations, and no additional financial terms of the stake pooling were released.

Once fully onstream, Ghasha's planned output of more than 1.8 billion cubic feet of gas a day would add significantly to ADNOC's existing offshore gas production in the surrounding Gulf waters.