Abu Dhabi's Decision Makers.

Sh. Mansour in late 2004 showcased the setting up of a wind power plant on Sir Bani Yas Island, a wildlife refuge off the coast of Abu Dhabi. This is the first-ever wind power plant in the Arabian peninsula. Shaikh Mansour then said: "The UAE is open to scientific innovations and will always be ready to adopt these innovations as long as they serve the local society". (Fujairah is to have several wind parks. In May 2002, seven solar-powered wind measurement towers were installed in various parts of the emirate to measure the amount, duration and strength of wind. The analyses of these readings will determine the feasibility of these parks. Each wind park is supposed to generate between 150 to 200 MW a year).

The Sir Bani Yas plant was opened on Oct. 25, 2004, by Sh. Mansour. The ceremony was attended by Shs Hamed and Dhiyah, the latter being chairman of ADWEA which from mid-2007 would be the main buyer of DEL gas if the Saudis lift their veto on the marine pipeline (see down4AbuDwho'sJan22-07).

The Mubadala/DEL Executives: Under these powerful full-brothers come Mubadala's CEO Khaldoun Khalifa Ahmad al-Mubarak and DEL's CEO Ahmad Ali al-Sayegh, both efficient technocrats and rising stars in the Abu Dhabi energy business. Mubarak has moved Mubadala (MDC) to other businesses for Abu Dhabi, including petroleum E&P and real-estate development.

MDC has helped establish several major companies fully owned and/or controlled by the state of Abu Dhibi. MDC's fully-owned unit Liwa Energy is a petroleum E&P company investing abroad. Liwa is Oxy's partner in E&P operations in Oman and Libya, for example. Aabar Petroleum Investments Co. (Aabar) is becoming a major player having acquired Pearl Energy which operates in South-East Asia (see profiles of this and other new companies in down3AbuDoverseasJan15-07).

Abu Dhabi National Energy Co. (Taqa) has bought Talisman Energy's North Sea assets. A statement highlighted by the press on Jan. 17, 2007, said the deal, for an undisclosed sum, involves Talisman's non-operated interests in the Brae assets of the UK North Sea. Talisman Energy's wholly owned UK subsidiaries Talisman Energy (UK) Limited and Talisman LNS Limited (Talisman) entered into the agreement with Taqa Bratani Limited, a wholly owned unit of Taqa. The sale, subject to usual government and third party consents, has an effective date of Jan. 1, 2007 and is expected to complete later in the year. Taqa CEO Peter Barker-Homek was on Jan. 17 quoted as saying: "The acquisition of these Brae assets is a further step in Taqa's development as a Pan Arabian-European energy company with businesses in the upstream, midstream, and downstream. The Brae assets give us access to high quality reserves and best-in-class partners, and naturally complement our assets in the Netherlands. We hope to further deepen our presence in the European energy sector, where we intend to make material contributions, particularly where carbon sequestration and corporate social responsibility issues are concerned. Taqa intends on developing one of the largest offshore LNG Regas terminals in the world and a major seasonal gas storage facility that will both provide for UK and continental European energy seasonal needs and security".

Taqa will sell a [pounds sterling]300m bond in the third quarter to finance its purchase of the North Sea assets from Talisman. The bond will be part of the company's $9.5 bn euro medium-term note programme, Peter Barker-Homek told Reuters by telephone from London on Jan. 18. Abu Dhabi National Energy said earlier one of its units had agreed to buy North Sea oil properties and assets from Canada's Talisman for $550m.