Adnoc L&S has now committed roughly USD 2.7 bn to vessel acquisitions in 2026 alone

Adnoc L&S has now committed roughly USD 2.7 bn to vessel acquisitions and newbuild orders in 2026 alone, after exercising options for two more next-generation LNG carriers from Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai for USD 444 mn, according to a company press release (pdf). Each new vessel has a capacity of 175k cbm, with delivery slated for 2029, taking the LNG fleet to 24 vessels — four legacy ships, six next-generation carriers delivered since 4Q 2024, and 14 more under construction.

Half of that USD 2.7 bn came together in just the past few weeks. Adnoc L&S added 11 large carriers earlier this month — five very large gas carriers (VLGCs) and six very large crude carriers — for around USD 1.3 bn. Nine of the 11 vessels were bought on the secondary market and are due for delivery this quarter, while the remaining two VLGCs are newbuilds resold from a Chinese shipyard, arriving in 4Q.

The resilience lens: more ships solve one bottleneck

This year’s disruption put a premium on vessel control: Red Sea and Hormuz pressure tightened tanker availability and forced Adnoc to charter around 15 crude carriers to maintain shuttle movements and customer deliveries. Adnoc has also offered cargoes from Fujairah, Zirku Island, and Das Island, as well as through ship-to-ship transfers at Fujairah and Sohar, giving buyers more ways to lift barrels despite disruptions around Hormuz.

The catch: more vessels don’t create more ways out of Hormuz. The weakness became visible in 2Q, when disruption around the strait pushed export and liquids sales volumes at Adnoc Gas — Adnoc’s production and export arm — down 53% y-o-y and net income down 52% to USD 665 mn. The company is now looking into an LNG export facility on the UAE’s east coast that could bypass Hormuz altogether.

The ships themselves are exposed to the same security layer. Adnoc-affiliated vessels have been repeatedly targeted through the conflict, while an empty Adnoc L&S LNG carrier was reported crossing Hormuz with its AIS switched off earlier this month. A larger owned fleet gives Adnoc more vessels to substitute, schedule, or redeploy — but it doesn’t decide whether a ship can safely pass the chokepoint in the first place.

The business lens: turning ships into contracted assets

Most of the global LNG order book is chasing a market that’s about to be oversupplied. Five of the six next-generation Jiangnan LNG carriers it has already received are deployed on contracts of up to 15 years with Adnoc Gas, while another eight under construction in South Korea for delivery from 2028 are tied to 20-year Adnoc Gas charters. The four Jiangnan vessels ordered last month are expected to enter long-term employment too, giving the company revenue visibility before the ships ever enter service — more than 100 LNG carriers are scheduled for delivery globally this year, following 76 in 2025, with the order book reaching 334 vessels, or around 40% of the existing fleet.

ُThe systems lens: matching the ships to the molecules

The LNG buildout comes into focus when mapped against the production timeline. Ruwais LNG’s first 4.8 mtpa train is expected online in 2H 2028, followed by the second in early 2029, with more than 90% of the project’s planned 9.6 mtpa output already committed under long-term agreements. Adnoc L&S’ next wave of LNG capacity lands across the same 2028-2029 window.

Why this matters: The fleet buildout de-risks Adnoc’s export commitments, and it’s already translating into market share during the crisis. But none of it removes the chokepoint risk upstream: contracted charters and a bigger fleet ensure Adnoc can move the gas once it’s produced — not that any ship can safely get through Hormuz.