What Adnoc signaled
Adnoc has told some Asian refiners that a portion of their offshore barrels is likely to move through a new pipeline in the early months of next year. People familiar with the plan said the producer is also considering term liftings of Upper Zakum - an offshore grade from fields in the Persian Gulf - to be loaded at Fujairah during the first months of 2027. In May, the company said construction was being accelerated with readiness targeted next year, while giving no additional details.
How the reroute would work
Those Fujairah loadings would be under annually renewed term contracts, letting customers take cargoes without sailing through the Strait of Hormuz, which remains under threat from Iranian attacks. Today, Adnoc already runs a line that moves Murban, its onshore crude, to Fujairah. Offshore grades such as Upper Zakum are usually marketed by tender, and buyers take cargoes just beyond the strait after the parcels are ferried through the channel.
The planned conduit represents the latest schedule meant to steer supply around the disrupted Strait of Hormuz and would expand Adnoc's capacity to bypass it. Fujairah sits outside the Strait of Hormuz.
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Strategic backdrop
Why the timing could matter for supply
Adnoc declined to comment. The anticipated start would also come after the UAE's decision to exit OPEC, removing group production limits and aligning with the country's earlier statement that it can respond more nimbly to market demand.
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