The UAE will remain a reliable energy supplier to Europe and the world despite the regional crisis, Undersecretary of Energy and Petroleum Affairs Sharif Al Olama told Euronews.
Speaking at ADIPEC in Abu Dhabi, Al Olama said the UAE’s oil exports continued throughout the crisis and that the country is using the experience to strengthen its energy infrastructure.
“I’m glad to say that we have proven ourselves during this crisis,” he said.
Away from the cameras, conversations among the senior officials gathered at ADIPEC from across the world were dominated by the threat of renewed military strikes in the region amid the ongoing US-Iran war. Many had resigned themselves to their inevitability, while still hoping diplomacy could find a way forward.
Al Olama was candid about the pressure the sector has faced. “This is not a big secret. We are going through a crisis. The first few months were very difficult.”
He credited the UAE’s long-term decision to spread its energy mix across nuclear, renewables and fossil fuels, with hydrogen and other future fuels in development.
“To diversify the energy sources was the right decision to make and it has helped in terms of making sure that our systems continue to operate and the services were uninterrupted during the entire period of the crisis,” Al Olama said.
He credited investment in diversified export routes for keeping oil moving to international customers, with further improvement expected “as time goes by”.
“In the case of our oil exports, it has continued during the crisis.”
Lessons from the period are now being built into facility design, the capacity under construction and the back-up held across the system. “We have learned a lot from the current crisis when it comes to the design of our facilities, when it comes the capacities that we are building, when it come to the redundancy in the systems itself.”
On renewables, Al Olama said the UAE now has around 8.2 gigawatts of solar capacity, with plans to grow to 20 gigawatts and beyond.
“We are getting some of the cheapest kilowatt-hours that renewable energies can produce in the world here in the UAE and we’re only expanding on that,” he explained.
“So there are massive projects coming on their way over the next few years.”
Planning for AI demand
The rapid growth of AI data centres, a recurring theme on the exhibition floor at ADIPEC, presents what he described as a global challenge for energy planners, and one Europe faces as it races to build its own AI capacity.
“The growth you’re seeing is no longer even exponential. It’s a vertical growth. That’s massive,” Al Olama said.
The UAE’s answer starts with efficiency, he pointed out, citing cases where AI tools have cut power consumption at some data centres by 40%. Planning for expansion, cooling and the use of existing infrastructure follows.
“This is a challenge that we’re living through, but we are planning properly for the future,” Al Olama said.
Asked whether Europe could learn from the UAE, he framed it as a two-way exchange. “I think, to be honest, it’s not about teaching, I think how governments interact. We learn from each other.”
He said the UAE is looking at rating data centres for energy efficiency and climate neutrality, and is sharing practice with European governments. “I’m 100% sure there are excellent practices in Europe that we are actually exchanging views on with our counterparts in other governments.”
Al Olama’s message to Europe and the wider world was one of reliability and partnership, with the UAE committed to its energy transition.
“The UAE has and will remain a very reliable energy supplier,” he said. “We believe in partnerships, in successful strategic partnerships that add value both at both ends.”
The UAE plans to bring a series of large solar projects online over the next few years as it works towards net zero by 2050, the same deadline the EU has set for its own climate neutrality.