Abu Dhabi's Adnoc launched XRG in November 2024 with an enterprise value of more than $80 billion. A year on, the company's valuation has climbed past $150 billion, and its reach now spans gas, chemicals and the energy systems needed to power artificial intelligence.
XRG describes itself as Adnoc's international investment company, with holdings across natural gas, chemicals and energy solutions. For UAE residents and investors watching Abu Dhabi's push into new industries, XRG has quickly become one of the clearest signals of where that strategy is heading.
What XRG actually owns
The company's portfolio includes Fertiglobe, in which XRG holds a majority stake, producing ammonia and urea for agriculture. Last year XRG acquired Covestro, a German advanced-materials company. In February, Covestro, Fertiglobe and Abu Dhabi chemicals firm Ta'ziz signed a memorandum of understanding to explore ammonia supplies from Fertiglobe to Covestro sites in China and the US. Covestro has also begun a feasibility study for a possible new MDI production facility in the UAE. MDI is used to make rigid polyurethane foam, a material commonly found in building and appliance insulation.
On gas, XRG is targeting 20 to 25 million tonnes a year of gas and LNG capacity by 2035, and it holds interests across all five LNG trains under construction at the Rio Grande LNG project in Texas.
Mohamed Al Aryani, President of International Gas at XRG, said the spread of assets is deliberate rather than scattered. "People often look at our portfolio and see a gas asset in one market, a chemicals business in another, and energy infrastructure somewhere else. We look at it differently," he said. "What connects them is a very simple question: How will the world produce, move and use energy and materials over the next 20 or 30 years and beyond?"
He described the approach as "from molecule to customer": "We are not interested in owning isolated assets. We are interested in building positions across the value chain where the pieces strengthen one another."
The AI power question
A major driver behind XRG's strategy is the electricity demand of artificial intelligence. "For most people, AI is a technology story. For us, it's also an energy story," Al Aryani said. "Every new data centre requires electricity. It requires infrastructure. It requires cooling systems. It requires advanced materials. When you scale that globally, the impact becomes very significant."
According to the International Energy Agency, data centres consumed about 485 terawatt-hours of electricity globally in 2025. The IEA's base case projects that figure will roughly double to 950TWh by 2030, when data centres would account for around three per cent of global electricity demand. Electricity use from AI-focused data centres specifically is projected to triple between 2025 and 2030. The IEA expects renewables to supply nearly half of the additional electricity needed by data centres over the coming years.
