Abu Dhabi will start pumping first crude oil by mid-year through a new giant pipeline that will enable it to bypass the strategic Strait of Hormuz waterway by exporting as much as 1.8 million barrels a day of crude via the neighboring emirate of Fujairah, where plans for a grassroots refinery are also regaining momentum, a person close to the situation said.
Abu Dhabi will start pumping first crude oil by mid-year through a new
giant pipeline that will enable it to bypass the strategic Strait of Hormuz
waterway by exporting as much as 1.8 million barrels a day of crude via the
neighboring emirate of Fujairah, where plans for a grassroots refinery are also
regaining momentum, a person close to the situation said.
Initial crude exports from Fujairah, located outside the Persian Gulf on the
Gulf of Oman, are due to start in the second half and will reach full capacity
in early 2012 once the pipeline is fully operational, the person told Zawya Dow
Jones this week.
The $3.29 billion, 400-kilometer pipeline will enable Abu Dhabi, the largest
U.A.E. sheikdom, to export as much as 70% of its crude from Fujairah, where
tankers will be able to pick up the oil instead of sailing an extra day into
the Persian Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway watched over by
Iran.
The Strait is one of the world's busiest tanker routes through which
Persian
Gulf
oil producers ship their crude exports. About 18 million barrels of
crude oil, or 20% of global consumption, are being shipped through the route
every day.
Oil prices have risen in the past partly on fears
Iran
could
block exports from the region through Hormuz if tensions with the
U.S.
over
the Islamic republic's nuclear program escalate.
Crude oil exported from
Fujairah
will
come from the onshore Habshan field in
Abu
Dhabi
. The emirate pumps about 95% of the crude in the
U.A.E., a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
The new pipeline, known as Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline, or Adcop, is being
built by China Petroleum Engineering and Construction Corp., or CPECC, a
subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corp. The project client is
Abu
Dhabi
government investment firm International Petroleum
Investment Co., or IPIC.
Abu Dhabi
's crude will be stored in
eight tanks with a capacity of 1 million barrels each in
Fujairah
,
which is already the world's second-largest bunkering terminal after
Singapore
.
Plans for a new export refinery in
Fujairah
are
also being revived as the pipeline project is nearing completion, the person
said. The contract to provide project management consultancy, or PMC, services
on the refinery is close to being awarded, the person added.
IPIC is "pressing ahead" with the project but has not yet appointed
an international partner to help implement the grassroots refinery, the person
said.
The refinery was first mulled in 2006 as a joint venture between IPIC and
ConocoPhillips (COP) but the project was put on the backburner after the
U.S.
oil
major pulled out of the project a year later amid concerns over rising cost.
Διαβάστε ακόμα
Τρι, 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 19:58
Τρι, 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 19:54
Τετ, 18 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 18:32
Τετ, 18 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 18:27
Τρι, 17 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 20:01