ADNOC shuts half capacity at Ruwais refinery after fire
SINGAPORE/DUBAI (Reuters) -- Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has shut half the capacity at its 800,000 barrels-per-day Ruwais refinery after a fire there last week, three industry sources familiar with the matter said on Monday.
ADNOC has closed the newer section of the refinery, which doubled its capacity when it started operating in 2015, the sources said, declining to be identified as they were not authorized to speak with media.
The refinery is expected to come back online this week, one of the sources added.
The fire broke out at an olefin conversion unit (OCU) which produces petrochemical products like propylene, a second source said.
"(ADNOC) is still exporting products and receiving feedstock," the first source said, adding that the company had plenty of oil product inventory and that the impact on supply would be limited to propylene.
But ADNOC has deferred at least two diesel cargoes which were expected to load from the refinery in January, traders have said.
The refinery mainly processes ADNOC's flagship Murban crude and the producer has been in talks with its crude customers in Asia to adjust their loadings in January to accommodate the refinery's outage, trade sources said.
ADNOC is requesting that buyers switch to loading Murban crude in January instead of Das or Upper Zakum, said a source with a refinery.
"We can switch but price-wise, it's 50 cents a barrel difference," the source said, adding that the request had also been for very prompt delivery.
For a week's shutdown, ADNOC may have to sell up to six prompt cargoes, the source said.
Another two sources at Asian refineries said ADNOC had been looking for buyers who could lift additional crude this month.
Reporting by Florence Tan and Jessica Jaganathan in SINGAPORE, Rania El Gamal in DUBAI; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Joseph Radford
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