Abu Dhabi hedges against oil price risk

Al Jaber: You can no longer be dependent on only oil prices. Adnoc had to come to terms with the realities on the ground. — Bloomberg

DUBAI: Behind the 65-story glass tower that houses the shiny new headquarters of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (Adnoc) sits a remnant of the Middle Eastern emirate’s not-so distant past: the squat, sand-coloured building that the government-owned energy giant once called home.

The stark contrast between the old and new buildings provides a hint of the changes afoot in energy-rich Abu Dhabi. The tiny, but stratospherically wealthy, emirate is trying to forge an economy for a post-oil world and needs to wring more profits from its petroleum industry to finance the makeover.