UAE targets West–East pipeline 3.6M bpd

Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan directed ADNOC on May 15 to accelerate delivery of a new West-East oil pipeline that would raise the United Arab Emirates’ export capacity outside the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Abu Dhabi Media Office. The office said the line is under construction and is expected to become operational in 2027. The project would double ADNOC’s export capacity through Fujairah, the Gulf of Oman terminal that gives Abu Dhabi an outlet beyond the strait. Brent crude futures were around $109.47 late on May 15, while WTI was near $105.66, according to ICE and market data services. ### Which pipeline is Abu Dhabi speeding up? The Abu Dhabi Media Office said May 15 that Sheikh Khaled, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, was briefed on the “new West-East Pipeline project” at a meeting of the executive committee of the ADNOC board. The office said the line “will double ADNOC’s export capacity through Fujairah” and that Sheikh Khaled directed ADNOC to accelerate delivery. (mediaoffice.abudhabi) Reuters reported the project is a new oil pipeline tied to Fujairah, not the older Saudi East-West system. The UAE’s existing bypass route is the Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline, also known as the Habshan-Fujairah pipeline, which can carry up to 1.8 million barrels per day, Reuters said. ### How much oil can the UAE already move outside Hormuz? (mediaoffice.abudhabi) Reuters said the existing Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline can carry up to 1.8 million barrels a day from Abu Dhabi to Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman coast. ADNOC documents describe Fujairah as one of the company’s two export terminals and say ADNOC Onshore operates a pipeline network linking Murban crude supply to Fujairah and Jebel Dhanna. (thenews.pk) ADNOC said in a 2022 terminal update that Fujairah sits on the Gulf of Oman and serves as a major export outlet. That geography is central to the project because cargoes loaded there do not need to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. ### Where does the 3.6 million bpd figure come from? (thenews.pk) Reuters said the new line will double export capacity through Fujairah by 2027. Based on the existing pipeline’s capacity of up to 1.8 million barrels per day, that implies total bypass capacity of about 3.6 million barrels per day once the new project is operating. Reuters did not state the 3.6 million figure directly in the version reviewed, but the doubling math follows from the capacities it reported. (adnoc.ae) The Abu Dhabi Media Office did not publish a barrel-per-day target in its May 15 statement. It said only that the project would double ADNOC’s export capacity through Fujairah and start operating in 2027. ### Why is Fujairah central to this move? (thenews.pk) Reuters said Iran has effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz since Feb. 28 after being attacked by the United States and Israel, disrupting roughly a fifth of global oil supplies. In that setting, Fujairah has become the UAE’s main outlet on the Gulf of Oman coast for crude exports that can avoid the strait. (mediaoffice.abudhabi) Reuters also said the UAE and Saudi Arabia are the only Gulf producers with pipelines that export crude outside the strait. Oman has coastline on the Gulf of Oman, while Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar and Bahrain remain far more dependent on Hormuz for shipments, Reuters reported. ### How does this fit with ADNOC’s broader supply plans? (thenews.pk) ADNOC is targeting 5 million barrels per day of production capacity by 2027, Reuters reported, after previously saying in May 2024 that capacity had reached 4.85 million barrels per day. Reuters also reported that the UAE produced just under 3.4 million barrels per day in January before the Hormuz disruption forced ADNOC to shut in some production. (thenews.pk) The Abu Dhabi Media Office said Sheikh Khaled told ADNOC to move into “a new phase of world-scale project execution” and said the company had the flexibility to increase production when export constraints allow. The next dated milestone in the official statement is the pipeline’s planned 2027 start of operations through Fujairah. (mediaoffice.abudhabi) (thenews.pk)