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Visitors to this year’s Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC) have been treated to the UAE’s first ever oil and gas museum. Titled the ADIPEC Museum, this unique collection of photographs, equipment, maps and documents illustrates the history of the local oil industry from its humble beginnings with the signing of the Red Line Agreement in 1928 to the present day.
Hosted in an outdoor marquee at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, the 500-square-metre museum also has a chronological display of photographs of the Abu Dhabi region dating back to the 1930s. The photographs illustrate the growth of Abu Dhabi in the last 70 years—from a modest fishing community struggling in the wake of a dwindling pearl diving industry into the 8th largest oil exporter in the world.
“The ADIPEC Museum is the first of its kind in the Middle East and offers a perspective to visitors on how far Abu Dhabi has come because of the development of oil,” said Kimon Alexandrou, Commercial Director at dmg::events, the organisers of ADIPEC. “Every photograph or display is rooted in a specific historic context and shows that oil and gas has promoted diversity and ensured the prosperity of the UAE.”
Curated with the guidance and support of Fareed Alsayed Abdulla, Senior Vice President (Bab & Gas) at ADCO, the ADIPEC Museum opened to visitors on November 11.
The ADIPEC Museum was assembled over the past year and offers visitors a unique opportunity to look at materials that have never been seen before in a single public display. The curators poured over 17,000 photographs from 15 local and international archives.
Archive material from ADNOC, the UAE Ministry of Energy, Abu Dhabi Petroleum Company, among others, was loaned for the display. Authors, academics and local dignitaries were also interviewed in the process of curating the museum, along with current and former employees of the UAE oil and gas industry.
The museum is a notable collaborative effort between international oil companies. Four of the seven original signatories of Abu Dhabi’s first oil concession agreement of 1939, namely: ExxonMobil, Total, Shell and BP, are significant contributors to the museum.
The contributors, along with Partex, have loaned dozens of rare photographs including those depicting exploration and production in onshore and offshore fields as well as the late Sheikh Zayed inaugurating various oilfields.
A series of interviews and short films also accompany the exhibits, describing the history and experiences of current and former industry executives.
“ADIPEC attracts significant worldwide interest and it is important for visitors to know about the UAE’s history. The museum is important for the local population and especially for the oil companies who do business here because it gives them a cultural and historical perspective to work with,” said David Heard, formerly a petroleum engineer for the Abu Dhabi Petroleum Company, who appears in one of the interviews.
The ADIPEC Museum is located in the Offshore and Marine Hall at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre and is open from 10am to 6pm daily until November 14. For more information, visitwww.adipec.com
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