UAE's ADNOC transforms Ruwais refinery as Murban exports hit eight-year high

Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. has transformed its 418,000 b/d Ruwais West Refinery, allowing for increased exports of its flagship Murban crude and for processing of the company's lower-valued grades along with crude from some 50 countries.

Murban exports averaged 1.636 million b/d in April after an eight-year high of 1.644 million b/d in February, according to S&P Global Commodities at Sea(opens in a new tab) data. Last month, ADNOC forecast Murban crude volume available for export in April 2025 would be 1.65 million b/d. Murban is also the backbone of Murban futures introduced in 2021 on ICE Futures Abu Dhabi as ADNOC is looking to boost Murban's liquidity to help support the futures contract. At the same time, the supply of ADNOC's Upper Zakum crude has declined in recent months, to 852,000 b/d in April, the lowest since September 2021, with no shipments to Europe since January, the data shows. ADNOC is now primarily feeding Upper Zakum into Ruwais.

The increase in Murban exports has for now resulted in other ADNOC crude grades becoming just as valuable, or even more valuable, than Murban. Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed Upper Zakum at $84.14/b on May 7, matching Murban. ADNOC's Umm Lulu grade was higher at $84.34/b, while Das Blend was assessed at $83.39/b.

"Some would say the project has not had perfect timing," said Dong Wang, principal research analyst for Middle East oil markets at S&P Global. "But definitely for the long term it will benefit ADNOC because it will free up Murban exports and will help trading of Murban futures." Already, IFAD Murban crude futures traded volume hit a record 474,481 lots in April, up almost 11% month on month, exchange data showed May 7.

Ruwais, with total capacity of 837,000 b/d, is made up of two plants: Ruwais Refinery East, at 420,000 b/d, and Ruwais Refinery West, at 417,000 b/d, located on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi. Fujairah port on the UAE's east coast accounts for about 75% of Murban exports, with the rest shipped out from Ruwais port. The complex has long served as a supplier of gasoline for the UAE market, along with ENOC and Emarat.

Murban is extracted from ADNOC's onshore fields in Abu Dhabi and accounts for about half of its production, or about 2 million b/d. The $3.5 billion crude flexibility project at Ruwais allows ADNOC to process up to 420,000 b/d of heavier and more sour grades of crude than Murban, which historically had been the predominant crude used at Ruwais.

Murban is a light sour crude, competing against other crudes such as Saudi Arabia's Arab Extra Light, Qatar's Land and Iraq's Kirkuk, with a gravity of 40.5 and sulfur content of 0.74%, according to the Platts Periodic Table of Oil, produced by S&P Global. Murban is favored by Japanese refineries.

ADNOC sets its official selling prices as a differential to Murban, while other regional producers base much of their pricing off a combination of the Platts Dubai benchmark or the Dubai Mercantile Exchange's Oman futures contract.

The UAE has six refineries with a total capacity of 1.2 million b/d, processing both crude and condensate, according to S&P Global data.