ABU DHABI - Part 4 - The Decision Makers.

Decision making in Abu Dhabi for oil and gas policies or projects involves a small number of people grouped in the Supreme Petroleum Council (SPC) and the board of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC). The number of young Abu Dhabian

university graduates joining the decision makers is increasing steadily.

Among the seven member-emirates of the UAE, Abu Dhabi is the only one which adheres to OPEC decisions. Although membership in OPEC is in the name of the UAE, Dubai and the others in the union act independently (see 2000 survey of the other UAE emirates in Vol. 54, Nos. 20-23).

The person to watch is Shaikh Sultan Bin Khalifa, the ambitious son of Abu Dhabi's crown prince and SPC chairman, who wants to become the emirate's day-to-day ruler when his father succeeds Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan. Aged 84, Shaikh Zayed returned to Abu Dhabi on Nov. 25, 2000 after having stayed for two months in the US, where he had a kidney transplant at Cleveland Hospital. Officially the day-to-day ruler of Abu Dhabi is his first son, Crown Prince Shaikh Khalifa. But in reality he is not very active and much is being handled presently by the sons of Shaikh Zayed's favourite wife, Shaikha Fatima Bint Mubarak, who are only half-brothers of Shaikh Khalifa (see profiles in Gas Market Trends).