#ADNOC INSIGHTS: In conversation with Dr. Rainer Seele

Well, I think we are now touching the point that we are very much concerned about the demand of oil in the future. And what I would like to mention are three points for the industry. I think first, we have to prepare for a challenging also low oil price environment, and that's the reason why our industry should invest into new technologies and capture the potential of digitalization to gain cost leadership, then you are the last man standing. Secondly, I think we also have to prepare for a very more volatile price market environment, and my recipe for that is that we should invest into integration—that's the stability we could gain—so you should invest into the value chain. And the third point, our industry, it's important that you should engage yourself along the value chain close to the growing market. That's the reason why you should shift your business at least partially into the growth regions like India and Asia.

I think we're not goes well on on track to execute a very challenging strategy. I can see that ADNOC is always telling me you have to stretch the dollar, they are very much cost driven. I think that's the good recipe for the first point. Secondly, I can see that especially in the last years when Dr. Sultan took the leadership, he has internationalized ADNOC to a level which is very impressive to all of us. So he's capturing the growing market especially also in Asia. And I think ADNOC has also realized the value in an integration and being an active player down the value chain. In what we can see is that now downstream is getting a heavier weight also in all the activities relationship to the fact that...

Well, first of all, it is the highest capital allocation we have in our portfolio. We have within one year dedicated five billion dollars to Abu Dhabi in an integrated cooperation with ADNOC. So the integrated cooperation makes us highly committed to Abu Dhabi and to the region. And why is the Middle East so attractive? Well, if you look on the map as a member of the oil and gas industry, you will easily find out that this is a paradise for oil and gas resources. You can't ignore that. And that's why I think you should go where you can find all the oil and gas fields. And especially the Middle East has now a very attractive strategy presented to potential shareholders and investors that they would like to think more integrated and that they will use the feedstock advantage here in the region to be highly competitive in the export markets.

Well, first of all we will remain an integrated oil and gas company. I think also in the next decades to come, our planet will need the high quality products out of oil and gas. When we will move more towards natural gas because it has the best energy efficiency from all the products we are producing. We are following a strategy that we have to take care more about sustainability. This is becoming a more important pillar. And that's the reason why OMV is becoming more and more a chemical company. As in the future we will less burn the oil, we will use oil more as a feedstock to integrate and penetrate more into petrochemicals, which is very important for daily life and especially the living standard. On the other hand, in terms of sustainability, we have decided that we will engage more into recycling. We would like to recycle especially the polymers we are producing. We have invented so-called ReOil technology which we use to recycle plastic waste into a high quality synthetic crude oil, so we can start the value chain again. We are now thinking about recycling the methane molecule, so that natural gas when it was burned, we are taking the CO2 and we are going for a hydrogenation process and then we recycle the methane molecule. I think it's very important that you have a very good sustainability strategy in place and that we are taking more care about our planet.

Well, it's very obvious especially given the fact that we all together prepare for digitalization that our industry is competing also with other industries into a war for talents. And what is very important for industry, we have to invest more into the image of our industry. It's not so well received and if we don't polish our image, I think we will have problems to attract highly talented people. What I have learned over the years, if you are offering a challenging job—and I think this is what is really waiting for everybody who would like to enter our industry—and if you have a little bit of pioneering spirit in your body and you would like to discover the world, we are global in history, and that's why I think everybody will enjoy working for us.

Thank you very much. With great pleasure.