UAE to up value of US energy investments to $440 billion by 2035

By Yousef Saba

DUBAI, May 16 (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates plans to raise its energy investments in the United States to $440 billion in the next decade, it said on Friday, boosting U.S. President Donald Trump's efforts to secure major business deals on a Gulf tour.

The wealthy oil power's strategy - which aligns with global growth ambitions for its companies - was announced during a presentation by Abu Dhabi oil giant ADNOC's CEO Sultan Al Jaber to Trump during the last stage of the president's regional trip.

The visit has drawn huge financial commitments to the U.S. from the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

The enterprise value of UAE investments in the U.S. energy sector will rise to $440 billion by 2035 from $70 billion now, Al Jaber told Trump, adding that U.S. energy firms will also invest in the UAE.

"Our partners have committed new investments worth $60 billion in upstream oil and gas, as well as new and unconventional opportunities," Al Jaber said.

The amount will be invested over the lifetime of projects, ADNOC said in a statement.

Exxon Mobil XOM.N and Japan's Inpex have agreed a deal to expand the capacity of Abu Dhabi's Upper Zakum offshore field, while Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) OXY.N will explore boosting the capacity of the Shah gas field and EOG Resources has won an oil exploration concession in Abu Dhabi's Al Dhafra region.

"The agreements reinforce the shared commitment of the UAE and U.S. to maintaining global energy security and the stability of energy markets," ADNOC said.

The $440 billion value of UAE investments in the U.S. was part of a $1.4 trillion investment plan pledged to Washington, it added.

That plan will "substantially increase the UAE's existing investments in the U.S. economy" in AI infrastructure, semiconductors, energy, and manufacturing, the White House said in a statement.

The two countries also agreed a deal that will give the UAE access to some of the most advanced artificial intelligence semiconductors from U.S. companies, a major win for Abu Dhabi's efforts to become a global AI hub.

"We see significant opportunities for further UAE-U.S. partnerships across the energy-AI nexus, and we look forward to working with our American partners," Al Jaber said in ADNOC's statement.

'GREAT PROGRESS'

"We're making great progress for the $1.4 trillion that UAE has announced it intends to spend in the United States," Trump said in Abu Dhabi, his last stop on the tour that has focused on investment deals rather than security crises in the Middle East, including Israel's war in Gaza - at least publicly.

"Yesterday the two countries also agreed to create a path for UAE to buy some of the world's most advanced AI semiconductors from American companies, a very big contract."

Trump said the deal will generate billions of dollars in business and accelerate efforts by the UAE, an oil power and regional economic power, to become a major player in artificial intelligence.

"And I read where - the oil and gas and all is great, but you're going to have equally big, and maybe even bigger - at some point, you'll be surpassing it with AI and other businesses," Trump told UAE officials on Friday during his visit.

ADNOC's international investment arm XRG is seeking to make a significant investment in U.S. natural gas, Al Jaber, who is also XRG's executive chairman and minister of industry and advanced technology, has said.

XRG signed a framework deal with Oxy subsidiary 1PointFive to evaluate a potential investment in a direct air capture project in Kleberg County, Texas, and could commit up to a third of its development cost, ADNOC said in its statement. Other details of the U.S. investment pledge were not disclosed.

ADNOC has already transferred stakes in NextDecade's Rio Grande LNG export facility and a planned ExxonMobil hydrogen plant - both also in Texas - to XRG, which was set up last year.

According to ADNOC, XRG, which is taking over Germany's Covestro and has agreed with Austria's OMV to merge their petrochemicals businesses Borouge and Borealis, has $80 billion in assets.

"The U.S. is a top priority market for XRG," ADNOC said in its statement, adding the firm "is set to boost investments across the American energy value chain, focusing on expanding gas, LNG, specialty chemicals and energy infrastructure".

Mubadala Energy, an arm of Abu Dhabi's second largest sovereign wealth fund, last month signed a deal with U.S. firm Kimmeridge that will give it stakes in U.S. gas assets.