
ADNOC
UAE state oil major building a permanent Hormuz-bypass export route through Fujairah by 2027.
On 18 May, ADNOC announced plans to double oil-export capacity through Fujairah by 2027, making its Habshan-Fujairah pipeline the UAE's route around the strait of Hormuz.
Last refreshed: 22 September 2026 · Appears in 2 active topics
Can ADNOC's Fujairah bypass make the UAE Iran-blockade-proof?
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Iran Conflict 2026Background
ADNOC is Abu Dhabi's state oil and gas company and the United Arab Emirates' main vehicle for hydrocarbon production. Founded in 1971, it is wholly owned by the Abu Dhabi government and is based in Abu Dhabi.
Its operations span oil, gas and export infrastructure. ADNOC jointly operates the Shah Gas Field with Occidental Petroleum, while the Habshan-Fujairah pipeline gives it an overland crude route to the Indian Ocean coast. The pipeline carried crude at 71% utilisation on 1 April.
ADNOC matters because Abu Dhabi uses it to turn its hydrocarbon reserves into state revenue, domestic energy supply and export capacity. The Shah and Habshan disruptions in March showed that its gas network also underpins infrastructure beyond oil exports.
ADNOC expands its bypass
On 18 May, ADNOC announced plans to double its oil-export capacity through Fujairah by 2027. The proposal makes the Habshan-Fujairah pipeline central to ADNOC's ability to move crude to the Indian Ocean without a tanker passage through the Strait of Hormuz.
The route was already operating at 71% utilisation on 1 April, leaving about 440,000 barrels a day of spare capacity. A 42-million-barrel underground storage cavern at Fujairah was also nearing completion. For ADNOC, the infrastructure creates an export route outside Hormuz, but concentrates resilience in Fujairah, a location Iran had already struck during the conflict.
ADNOC absorbs gas disruptions
On 15 March, a drone ignited a fire at the Shah Gas Field, where ADNOC and Occidental Petroleum jointly operate a facility processing 1 billion cubic feet of gas a day. Operations were suspended while the sour-gas plant underwent required integrity checks after the fire.
On 18 March, debris from intercepted missiles shut the Habshan and Bab gas facilities. Alongside Shah, the outages removed roughly 3.2 billion cubic feet a day of UAE gas-processing capacity. For ADNOC, the incidents showed that air-defence interceptions could disrupt its domestic energy system even when the intended target was elsewhere.