The United Arab Emirates announced the discovery of the first gas reserves from its offshore exploration concessions as it seeks to achieve gas self-sufficiency.  

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) said that between 42.5 billion and 56.5 billion cubic metres (between 1.5 trillion and 2 trillion cubic feet) of raw gas was found off the oil-rich country.

"This discovery marks the first from Abu Dhabi's offshore exploration concessions," it said in a statement.

ADNOC CEO Sultan al-Jaber said the discovery would help "create long-term value for the UAE".

A consortium led by Italy's ENI and PTT of Thailand won the exploration rights for the offshore block in 2019.

The UAE has some of the world's largest gas reserves, with approximately 273 trillion cubic feet of conventional gas and 160 trillion cubic feet of unconventional gas. But it currently supplies most of its domestic demand with imports from neighbouring Qatar.

The statement gave no details of the timeframe for the new gas resources to come onstream.

In 2020, the UAE said it had discovered huge reserves of gas that would help it meet its needs.

ADNOC said about 80 trillion cubic feet of shallow gas reserves were discovered between the emirates of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the largest in the seven-member UAE.

Meanwhile, the UAE has said it hopes to be carbon neutral by 2050.

However, it forecast last year that the oil and gas industry would need to invest "over $600 billion every year until 2030" just to keep up with projected demand.