Another oil facility hit in the UAE: Adnoc halted operations at its Ruwais oil refinery — one of the world’s largest — following a drone strike that resulted in a fire at the Ruwais Industrial Complex, where the refinery is located, Bloomberg reports, citing people it says are familiar with the matter. Abu Dhabi authorities said they were trying to contain the blaze as of midday yesterday, according to a post on X. No injuries have been reported so far.

IN CONTEXT- The refinery is the UAE’s largest and the only one in Abu Dhabi, with a processing capacity of over 900k bbl / d of oil. The rest of the UAE’s refining capacity is located at the Enoc refinery in Dubai and smaller plants in Sharjah and Fujairah, which primarily process heavy crudes and fuel oil.

This follows a series of attacks last week and earlier this week on the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone.

The complex is also home to a host of Adnoc’s facilities, including those of chemical maker Borouge and fertilizer producer Fertiglobe. Adnoc is also currently building a massive LNG export terminal at the site. T’aziz — a JV between Adnoc and ADQ — is also developing a wider chemicals complex and transition fuels site there, which is expected to contribute some AED 183 bn to the economy — targeting 4.7 mn tons in annual capacity.

Iran’s drone strikes triggered a wave of energy asset disruptions across the Gulf last week, with Saudi Arabia temporarily suspending operations at its largest refinery and Qatar halting liquefied natural gas exports.

With ongoing disruptions and the Strait of Hormuz still closed, refineries might need to “reduce their production to the level required to meet domestic demand,” Justin Alexander, director of Khalij Economics and GCC analyst for GlobalSource Partners, tells EnterpriseAM.

Targeting oil facilities could also mean a slower recovery once the Strait reopens: “Any serious damage [to refineries] could impact the restart time to normal operations once the Strait reopens. The shut in of exports, beyond what can be piped or trucked to Fujairah, remains the main economic impact from the war.”

The disruptions have already forced oil producers across the region to slash output — a move aimed at delaying a complete shutdown as storage fills up, Bloomberg reports, citing a person it says is in the know. Meanwhile, Adnoc said it was “managing offshore production” due to storage constraints while still using export capacity that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz to continue exports, alongside its global storage network.

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