ABU DHABI, UAE (10 February 2015)—Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, ADNOC, and the Occidental Petroleum Corporation have signed a technical evaluation agreement for the development of Hail and Ghasha oil fields. Under the terms of the new agreement, ADNOC and Oxy will cooperate in carrying out a number of activities that reach up to US$500 million in investment. The agreement covers 3-D seismic surveys, drilling of appraisal wells and conducting of engineering studies necessary for the fields’ development. According to the plan the necessary evaluation studies and the desired goals of the developmental project is expected to be realized by 2017. The agreement was signed by Mohammed Butti Al Qubaisi, Director, Exploration and Production at ADNOC and Edward Lowe, President of Occidental Oil and Gas International. Saoud Mubarak Al Mehairbi, Manager of Exploration Division at ADNOC, said, "Under this agreement, Oxy will provide manpower support in form of secondees to ADNOC for short, mid and long terms to be agreed between the parties for the development of ADNOC human capabilities and will organize a number of training courses to provide human resources development opportunities to ADNOC staff focusing on selected areas such as geology and technical areas."