The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) intends to add crude processing capabilities to its refinery in the Ruwais region of Abu Dhabi. The company intends to invest as much as $3.1bn into the ‘Crude Flexibility Project’, as part of its plans to accelerate delivery of its downstream refining strategy to enhance margins.

Prior to this, ADNOC awarded an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the project to a joint venture between Samsung Engineering and CB&I. The modifications will add an Atmospheric Residue De-Sulphurisation (ARDS) unit, which will enable the refinery to process Upper Zakum crude or other similar crudes from the market.

“Enabling the Ruwais Refinery-West to process Upper Zakum, or similar, medium sour crude, in place of Murban light sweet crude, will allow us to extract greater value from our crude resources. It will mean we can maximise the benefit of price differentials to enhance refinery margins, improve the middle distillate products and release valuable Murban crude into the market,” said Abdulaziz Abdulla Alhajri, director of ADNOC’s Downstream Directorate.

Once the project is complete, the Ruwais Refinery-West complex will be able to process up to 420,000 barrels per day of Upper Zakum crude or other similar crude types. ADNOC says this will enable them to use the higher value Murban crude for export sales on global oil markets.