Abu Dhabi has awarded two key engineering and construction contracts to upgrade the Jebel Dhanna export terminal as part of ongoing plans to change the way it refines and exports its flagship crudes.
The project involves increasing pipeline capacity and upgrading the export facility to allow a new range of crudes to be delivered to the 817,000 b/d Ruwais refining complex for the first time.
Adnoc Onshore, a subsidiary of state-owned Adnoc, has awarded a $315mn contract to China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering to replace the two main oil pipelines that transport UAE flagship crude Murban to the terminal. Slated for completion in early 2023, the project will increase pipeline capacity by 30pc.
Adnoc Onshore can currently produce as much as 1.8mn b/d of light sour Murban, mainly from its onshore Bab, Bu Hasa and North East Bab fields. Murban is exported from two terminals — Jebel Dhanna on the Mideast Gulf coast, and Fujairah which is located outside the strait of Hormuz in the Gulf of Oman.
A second contract, to upgrade the crude receiving facilities at Jebel Dhanna, has been awarded to Abu Dhabi-based Target Engineering Construction for $110mn.
Built in the 1960s, Jebel Dhanna has only operated as a Murban export facility. When the upgrades are complete in May 2022, the terminal will be able to receive Adnoc's Upper Zakum crude, as well as other grades produced outside of Abu Dhabi. These will then be transported to the Ruwais refinery, 12km to the east of Jebel Dhanna.
"This ability to import other grades of crude at Jebel Dhanna following the completion of the project will provide Adnoc greater flexibility, highlighting how the company is extracting value from every barrel of crude it produces," the company said.
The latest contracts complement Adnoc's $3.5bn crude flexibility project at Ruwais, which is expected to be concluded in the middle of 2022. Adnoc says Ruwais will be capable of processing up to 420,000 b/d of the heavy, sulphur-rich Upper Zakum grade and more than 50 other crude grades.
