Abu Dhabi's state-owned Adnoc has launched its new oil-products trading joint venture, Adnoc Global Trading (AGT).
The venture with Italy's Eni and Austria's OMV will focus on trading light and middle distillates, as well as speciality products from Adnoc's domestic 817,000 b/d Ruwais refinery complex, the firm said today.
Adnoc said that AGT will offer a broader range of integrated services, with new delivery, pricing and hedging options. The company has substantial storage capacity in the UAE, Japan and India, and a 10pc stake in global storage terminal owner and operator VTTI, giving it access to storage in some of its key export markets in Asia-Pacific, Africa and Europe in addition to its main storage hub at the UAE port of Fujairah.
By moving into trading, Adnoc hopes to create new revenue streams from the sale of its growing crude and refined products portfolio — one of the key goals under its 2030 strategy. The company produces more than 40mn t/yr of refined products and petrochemicals feedstock at Ruwais.
It has also set out ambitious plans to expand that refinery and to build a separate greenfield 400,000 b/d facility at the complex geared towards petrochemicals. The expansion is central to Adnoc's strategy of stretching the margin from each barrel of oil it produces.
The launch of AGT comes just months after a new crude-focused trading arm, Adnoc Trading (AT) made its first trade on 30 September. The two trading arms will co-ordinate to "ensure non-system feedstock supplies to the Ruwais refinery," Adnoc said.
It has already been working closely with Adnoc Refining to support Ruwais' "refinery optimization, enhancing decision-making for production flows and providing greater insights into pricing and market opportunities," Adnoc said.
