The United Arab Emirates will accelerate the US$20 billion natural gas project by awarding contracts for some of these natural gas projects in the next few days. The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company will award engineering and construction work to the Dalma gas field in the Arabian Gulf waters. The natural gas is expected to be in 2025. It starts to flow around the year.

As consumers try to get rid of crude oil and coal, Adnoc is one of several large state-owned oil companies to increase natural gas production. Natural gas is a cleaner energy source, although the industry is still an important source of carbon and methane emissions. Dalma will help the United Arab Emirates, OPEC's third-largest oil producer, to achieve self-sufficiency in natural gas by 2030. Adnoc CEO Sultanal Jaber said that the country will export part of the excess supply as liquefied natural gas. Adnoc can use part of Dalma's blue hydrogen reserves, made by converting gas and capturing carbon dioxide emissions. The company is investing heavily in manufacturing facilities to export blue hydrogen in the next decade.

Neighboring Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, is also racing to increase natural gas production. Saudi Aramco is carrying out a $110 billion project to develop the Jafurah oil field in the east of the kingdom. About half of the natural gas will be used to make blue hydrogen, and most of the rest will be used in domestic power plants.

Italy's EniSpA, Austria's OMVAG and Germany's WintershallAG jointly own 40% of Dalma's shares, while Adnoc holds the remaining shares. In 2018, Adnoc stated that the field will pump 1.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas and 120,000 barrels of oil per day. Adnoc exports LNG from Das Island in the Arabian Gulf. It is studying plans to develop a new liquefied natural gas facility in Fujairah, an oil hub located outside the Strait of Hormuz, which is the main gateway to the Gulf. ClaudioDescalzi hopes Adnoc can make a final investment decision in the larger Hail and Ghasha oil fields in 2022. Descalzi stated in 2018 that the total investment in all natural gas concessions could reach US$20 billion.