Musabbeh Hilal Al Kaabi is an executive figure associated with shifts in the energy sector in the United Arab Emirates, moving from sovereign investment and hydrocarbon asset management to carbon reduction and international growth files. He currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of ADNOC’s Exploration, Development and Production (Upstream) Directorate, leading exploration and production operations and maximizing value from assets at a time when supply security pressures coexist with the requirements of the energy transition.
His profile combines specialized academic preparation with operational experience. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Geophysical Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines (United States) and a master’s degree in Petroleum Geoscience from Imperial College London (United Kingdom). This background, linking subsurface interpretation with managing geological uncertainty, shaped later choices, as he remained close to the industry even when he moved into investment.
Al Kaabi began at ADNOC, spending around 16 years in multiple roles before leading exploration activities. He built experience in concessions and partnerships and in managing joint ventures that require balancing national interests with commercial standards, reinforcing a view that technology and governance are part of the returns equation.
In 2013 he moved to Mubadala Petroleum, taking the position of Chief Executive Officer for Business Development, before being appointed CEO of the company in October 2014. His earlier experience was presented then as an asset in exploration, drilling, and partnership management. Within the Mubadala Group, he served as CEO of Mubadala Petroleum (2014–2017), then led Mubadala’s Oil and Petrochemicals sector (2017–2020), managing a diversified global portfolio in a volatile energy environment.
As Abu Dhabi’s investment agenda evolved, he moved in January 2021 to become CEO of the UAE Investments platform within Mubadala Investment, described as supporting economic transformation by establishing national assets and partnerships across multiple sectors. Economic coverage described the energy portfolio he oversaw as including global investments exceeding $40 billion across the value chain, reflecting responsibilities that combined managing assets with directing them toward state priorities.
In December 2022 he returned to ADNOC with the creation of a new sector for Low Carbon Solutions and International Growth. The new sector was presented as an umbrella for investment in renewable energy, clean hydrogen, and carbon capture and storage technologies, alongside expanding international partnerships in gas, liquefied natural gas, and chemicals. In 2024, Reuters quoted him as saying ADNOC’s strategy is “anchored in gas,” and that the company is seeking to expand through investments in gas, liquefied natural gas, petrochemicals, and renewable energy, viewing gas as a transition fuel in the global shift.
With leadership restructuring, his name featured in global energy programs as leading the upstream sector. He is a member of ADNOC’s Investment Committee and holds board memberships including Masdar, Tabreed, ADNOC Gas, ADNOC Drilling, and the Environment Agency, Abu Dhabi, in addition to previous participation in boards and institutions linked to energy, industry, and finance. International sources also mention that he chairs the board of Mubadala Energy, the international exploration and production arm within the Mubadala system.
Al Kaabi also appears on economic dialogue platforms. He participated in the World Government Summit in sessions on investment in net zero and climate governance, and is listed among speakers at forums such as Investopia, focused on the future of the economy and energy. Across these platforms, he emphasizes “partnerships” as a way to reduce risk and accelerate knowledge transfer, not merely a channel for project financing.
In this sense, his career can be read as movement across three interconnected layers: deep technical experience in exploration and production; management of companies and assets through sovereign investment; and a return to a major national company through low carbon energy before assuming leadership of the sector most directly tied to oil and gas operations. This progression aligns him with a model of an executive who combines a geologist’s mindset, an investor’s logic, and sensitivity to the energy transition, a mix whose importance is growing in a region where market considerations intersect with climate considerations.
