Today's Edition
ASILA AL BADI (ABU DHABI)
ADNOC has announced more than Dh60 billion in local manufacturing opportunities through 2030 for businesses ready to build in the UAE.
Announced at the second Make it with ADNOC Forum held in Abu Dhabi on Sunday ahead of ADIPEC, the measures combine opportunities to manufacture over 200 essential products and critical spare parts.
Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and ADNOC Managing Director and Group CEO, said the company's next phase is about giving manufacturers and investors "clarity on what we need, visibility of when we need it, and a simpler route to compete for our business”.
Speaking at the forum, Omar Abdulla Alnuaimi, ADNOC Group Chief for Commercial and In-Country Value, said the new package covers industrial products and "a whole portfolio of critical spare parts" needed across the company’s operations and projects.
Many of these, he added, are currently imported, and making them locally would shorten lead times and reduce ADNOC's exposure to global supply disruptions.
These products range from rotating equipment and power to electrical, control and automation systems; drilling and completion equipment; chemicals and catalysts; piping, fabrication and heavy equipment; and spare parts and advanced manufacturing.
Al Nuaimi said the move would support businesses of every size, from small and medium-sized enterprises to large industrial investors.
"These are not 200 products only. These are opportunities, partnerships, industries, and a whole value chain," he said.
ADNOC, the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT) and the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) will work together to help manufacturers turn the identified demand into viable investments, combining visibility of ADNOC's needs with access to the national industrial database and financing through the National Industrial Resilience Fund.
New ICV Framework
To widen access to these opportunities, ADNOC also presented a new ICV framework.
From November 1, the company will apply a revised ICV evaluation methodology to applicable contracts, weighting commercial considerations at 70 per cent and ICV performance at 30 per cent, said Salama Alawadhi, Senior Vice President for Group Commercial, ICV and Industrial Development at ADNOC.
Contracts below Dh2 million will be exempt from ICV requirements, she added.
ADNOC has also redesigned its supplier registration process, cutting the time it takes by up to 80 per cent, halving the documents required, and removing prequalification requirements for 60 per cent of service categories. Separate procurement changes aim to shorten purchasing cycles by up to 40 per cent.
ADNOC's Local+ list has expanded to more than 100 UAE manufacturers, up from 70 at its launch in May.
Local+ gives UAE-made products priority in ADNOC's projects by requiring engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors participating in new tenders to source relevant products from approved manufacturers on the list.
Alawadhi said the changes followed extensive consultations with suppliers, manufacturers and partners.
"Whatever we are going to present to you today wasn't a decision made by us in ADNOC alone. It's a decision made together with you," she said.
ICV Track Record
Since its launch in 2018, ADNOC's ICV programme has redirected more than Dh307 billion into the UAE economy by the end of 2025.
It has also supported the localisation of more than 130 products, the development of 95 UAE factories, and employment for more than 27,500 Emiratis in participating private-sector companies.
Addressing the forum, Hasan Jasem Al Nowais, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology, highlighted that the wider National ICV Programme has redirected more than Dh473 billion into the UAE economy, including Dh126 billion in 2025.
He also called on major buyers to give UAE suppliers greater visibility of their requirements so manufacturers can invest and expand with confidence.
"Our shared task is to turn that purchasing power into lasting industrial growth, building more in the UAE, for the UAE, and from the UAE to the world,” Al Nowais said.
