By Eduard Gismatullin

(Corrects power-generating capacity in 11th paragraph.)

March 12 (Bloomberg) -- Abu Dhabi National Energy Co., the state-controlled power and oil producer known as Taqa, plans to spend as much as $4 billion on acquisitions this year to become a global producer.

The company also will invest in a Dutch gas-storage project and in North Sea production, while holding capital spending this year below levels planned earlier, Chief Executive Officer Peter Barker-Homek said in an interview today. Taqa plans to increase its power generating capacity by about 52 percent in two to four years, he said.

Abu Dhabi-based Taqa plans to use acquisitions to increase assets to between $40 billion and $60 billion in 2020, up from about $25 billion now. It’s looking at possible targets in the North Sea and North America and plans to expand in Ghana and the Ivory Coast.

“We are not afraid of mature assets,” Barker-Homek said, speaking at theAcquisition and Divestment Summit in London. “It’s a very good time for Taqa to grow its business.”

Taqa fell 4.6 percent to 1.45 dirhams today in Abu Dhabi. The shares are up 42 percent this year, valuing the company at about 9 billion dirham ($2.5 billion).

The company also plans to invest 600 million euros ($769 million) with OAO Gazprom, Russia’s natural-gas exporter, in their Bergermeer Dutch gas storage project.

“We hope to start construction in the third quarter,” Barker-Homek said, adding the facility will have a capacity of 3 billion cubic meters. Taqa bought BP Plc’s Dutch production and storage facilities last year.

Investment Plans

Taqa bought North Sea fields from Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp.’s Esso Exploration & Production U.K. Ltd. for $631 million last December.

The company also plans to invest 500 million pounds ($691 million) in the North Sea over the next three to five years and will double production there in 2010. Its current output is about 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day.

Barker-Homek said capital spending will be limited to $300 million this year, compared with an earlier target of $800 million, as it predicts industry costs will continue to drop.

Taqa has plans to increase power-generating capacity to 16,000 megawatts, up from 10,500 megawatts over the next two to four years, he said. It plans to complete the acquisition this month of about 1,000 megawatts of electricity capacity from Marubeni Corp. in the Caribbean. Barker-Homek declined to comment on the value of the transaction.

To contact the reporter on this story: Eduard Gismatullin in London ategismatullin@bloomberg.net