Adnoc commissions new coker unit to maximise refining operations

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s (Adnoc) subsidiary Adnoc Refining has commissioned a specialised coker unit in order to obtain maximum value from ‘bottom-of-the-barrel’ heavy oils and slurry.

The development is part of the company’s Carbon Black and Coker Project, which incorporates a coker, also known as a ‘delayed coker’ in the oil and gas industry.

The project is designed to recover highly specialised and valuable grades of carbon black and calcined coke, both of which are essential to industrial processes within Adnoc subsidiaries and other UAE industries.

Furthermore, enhancing the flexibility of Adnoc’s refining assets is a significant part of its downstream expansion strategy, announced earlier this year.

The strategy involves scaling the refining capacity by more than 65% by 2025 through the addition of a third refinery, taking the total capacity to 1.5 million barrels a day.

Adnoc Downstream Directorate director Abdulaziz AlHajri said: “At the heart of our downstream strategy is an AED165bn ($45bn) investment, over the next five years, that will create the world’s largest integrated refining and petrochemicals hub in Ruwais, where ADNOC will convert 20% of its crude to chemicals, tripling petrochemical production capacity to 14.4 million tonnes per year, by 2025.

“In parallel, ADNOC intends to build an international, integrated downstream presence, including securing additional crude refining capacity in growth markets.”

The Carbon Black and Coker Project entails the production of 40,600t of two different grades of Carbon black a year, as well as 430,000t of high-value anode grade calcined coke.

Adnoc Refining CEO Jasem Ali Al Sayegh said: “The successful commissioning of the coker project, along with the production of the first Green coke created in the UAE, will improve ADNOC Refining’s margins by maximising value from every barrel of crude oil that we refine.”