At the second Make It with ADNOC Forum in Abu Dhabi, the group unveiled Dh60 billion in new local manufacturing opportunities for suppliers and promised 40% faster tender cycles. The portfolio covers around 200 products and a critical spare-parts book.
What's inside the Dh60 billion
According to Gulf News, at the Forum held in Abu Dhabi ahead of ADIPEC, Omar Abdulla Alnuaimi, Group Chief of ADNOC Commercial & In-Country Value, announced Dh60 billion in new local manufacturing opportunities — about 200 products plus a portfolio of critical spare parts across drilling, projects and operations.
The breakdown called out on stage:
- Drilling and wells. Wellheads and drilling fluids are already localised. Planned next: electrical submersible pumps (ESPs), OCTG tubing, central coolers and seamless pipes.
- Projects. Rotary equipment: compressors and pumps. Broader buckets: mechanical, electrical, static and rotary.
- Operations & maintenance. Electrical components, spare parts, catalysts and chemicals still to be localised.
"You build it here, and we are ready to build it together" — Alnuaimi's short pitch to suppliers: if production stands up locally, ADNOC will act as a partner, not a one-off buyer.
40% faster — what this means for suppliers
The second big announcement is a 40% cut to tender cycles. ADNOC's Senior VP for Commercial Operations and Execution, Adel Yafei, added a nuance: those 40% are time ADNOC saves on its side, not time suppliers spend preparing bids. In practice, that means a shorter path from tender publication to contract signature, with faster feedback on each bid — feedback ADNOC committed to deliver to every supplier.
In parallel, the pool of large contractors has doubled: the number of EPC principals rose from 10 to 20 since the previous Forum. In 2026 year-to-date, ADNOC has already placed more than 8,000 requisitions, contracts and purchase orders with over 1,500 partners and awarded 10 mega-EPC projects. Requirements remain strict: 100% HSE and a mandatory ICV contribution.
For a supplier, that unlocks two practical gains: a shorter cash gap between tender investment and first payment, and higher throughput for the sales team along the pipeline. To make ADNOC a reliable channel, the sales team has to work in both English and Arabic and read technical specs fast — a topic we unpack in our guide to hiring a multilingual team in the UAE.
The bigger ICV picture since 2018
To ground the Dh60 billion in context, Alnuaimi cited cumulative ADNOC ICV figures since 2018: Dh307 billion redirected into the UAE economy. Annual ICV contribution grew from Dh18 billion in 2018 to Dh65 billion at year-end 2025 — a 3.5x rise.
Hasan Jasem Al Nowais, Under Secretary at the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology, widened the frame to the whole Make It in the Emirates programme (not only ADNOC): Dh473 billion redirected into the economy, around 28,000 private-sector jobs for UAE nationals, 95 new or expanded factories and 130 localised products. Of the Dh90 billion local manufacturing target for 2030, Dh80 billion has already been achieved — around 89%.
Forum partners include MoIAT, Emirates Development Bank, Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) and AD Ports. ADNOC also signed a memorandum with ADIO and the KEZAD Group — giving suppliers a single-window 'customer–zone–financing' bundle.
What this means for UAE businesses
The logic behind the Dh60 billion is straightforward: ADNOC removes 'grey import' risk from its procurement curve and transfers it to domestic manufacturers — in exchange for predictable multi-year demand and faster tenders. For a company deciding where to localise, this shifts three things at once:
- Operating-model choice. Pure trading without local production scores low on ICV; serious players need physical presence — assembly, warehousing, engineering. That pushes the decision toward real-site formats with port access, not 'virtual-office' setups. How to build such a format without blowing the budget — in our breakdown of setting up a logistics centre in the UAE (free zones, ports and 2026 pricing).
- Product strategy focus. Priority positions for 2027–2028 are now on the public record: ESPs, OCTG, seamless pipes, rotary equipment, catalysts, chemicals. For manufacturers, that is a roadmap for where to deploy CAPEX to be inside the tender pipeline early.
- Project economics. A shorter tender cycle shortens the payback window on bid preparation and early launches. For smaller industrial projects, where a quarter of delay eats several percentage points of IRR, that is a tangible change to NPV.
The Forum ran ahead of ADIPEC — the region's biggest annual energy industry event in Abu Dhabi. Over the following days, ADNOC and partners are expected to firm up a chunk of these commitments through contract signings, so part of the Dh60 billion will quickly take on specific supplier names.
This article is for information only. Verify product scopes, tender conditions and ICV requirements in ADNOC's supplier system and with accredited ICV auditors before taking commercial decisions.
