We Refine Right
The Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company, so called TAKREER, is the operational entity of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) in charge of the refining business.
Until 1999, the downstream activities were left as a branch within ADNOC, but with the development of this sector in Abu Dhabi and major projects to be launched in the years 2000s, ADNOC decided to separate it and establish a dedicated entity to handle it.
Under TAKREER umbrella, ADNOC transfered all the activities related to:
- Crude oil refining
- Condensate transformation
- Supply of petroleum products
- Sulfur treatment and granulation for export
TAKREER key assets rely on the Abu Dhabi Refinery and the Ruwais refinery.
As the first refinery in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Abu Dhabi Refinery started operations in 1976 with a capacity of 15,000 b/d and a capital expenditure of $45 million.
In 1982, ADNOC proceeded to a first expansion to 60,000 b/d capacity.
In 1990, the Umm al Nar salt and chlorine plant was merged with the Abu Dhabi Refinery to become the ADNOC Abu Dhabi Refinery and Chlorine Division.
In 1992, ADNOC decided a new expansion to 85,000 b/d and the upgrade of the process with desulfurization and sulfur handling units.
The Abu Dhabi Refinery holds 500,000 cubic meter storage capacities connected to a marine terminal for loading and unloading tankers.
The Ruwais refinery was commissioned few years later in 1982 in the western region of the Emirate, 240 kilometers west of Abu Dhabi City with a capacity of 120,000 b/d.
The purpose was to create the Ruwais Industrial complex around this refinery.
In 1985, ADNOC invested in a first expansion of 27,000 b/d, and in 1986 the refinery was merged with the Ruwais General Utilities Plant for the supply of power and water.
In 1991, ADNOC added the sulfur handling and granulation units to become one of the largest in the world.
In 2002, TAKREER commissioned two condensate processing trains of 140,000 b/d, also among the largest in the world.
Today, the Ruwais Refinery manages a farm of 91 tanks with a storage capacity of 3 million cubic meters linked to a marine terminal.
Now integrated in the refinery, the Ruwais utilities run a 650 MW gas-fired power plant and a 60,000 cubic meters per day desalination facility.
Today, the Abu Dhabi Refinery and the Ruwais Refinery have a capacity of 460,000 b/d (23 million t/y) of crude oil and condensate.
TAKREER Key Figures
As part of a national oil and non-listed company, TAKREER does not publish figures.
TAKREER Projects and Business Highlights
Abu Dhabi is targeting to increase its crude oil production to meet its OPEC quotas 2018.
In the same time Abu Dhabi strategy is defined to reduce its reliance on this crude oil market in developing the downstream activities.
In parallel, Abu Dhabi is running short of natural gas meaning that the development of the downstream activities including the petrochemical sector will be mainly based on crude oil.
In this context, TAKREER will take a leading role in ADNOC strategy for growth, value creation and employement.
As a first step of its development, TAKREER awarded in June 2012 a $2.5 billion engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to Samsung Engineering from South Korea for the construction of a carbon black delayed coker (CBDC) at the Ruwais Industrial Complex.
The purpose of this new plant is to produce higher value added products such as synthetic rubber and resins from the crude oil refining and heavy residual oil recycling.
This project will include 12 processing units and 23 infrastructure offsites and utilities.
Planned to start operations in 2015, this carbon black delayed coker project reflects the $10 billion refinery expansion planned in Ruwais Industrial City.
As part of ADNOC integrated business model, this carbon black deleyed coker will supply 1.6 million t/y propylene as feedstock to the adjacent Borouge petrochemical complex.
The whole $10 billion TAKREER Ruwais refinery should be completed at the end of 2013 and add 417,000 b/d refining capacity to Abu Dhabi.
