The first-ever shipment of UAE-produced calcined coke has started its maiden voyage to mainland China. 10,500 tons of calcined coke were loaded by ADNOC Refining onto the M/V Lucky Ocho, a vessel chartered by ADNOC Logistics & Services, to be delivered in Yantai, China by the end of April 2019.
The first shipment of this product represents the latest milestone in ADNOC’s attempt to reduce production of high-sulphur fuel oil and move towards being a ‘zero-fuel oil’ refining business. ADNOC made zero-fuel oil refining a high priority when IMO’s 2020 Regulation was first proposed.
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In this aspect, ADNOC commissioned, in September 2018, its multi-billion-dollar Carbon Black and Delayed Coker Unit. The Unit, which produced the UAE’s first-ever calcined coke currently being shipped to China, enables ADNOC to extract the maximum value from sulphur-heavy ‘bottom-of-the-barrel’ oils and slurry, as it delivers on its Downstream strategy.
Jasem Al Sayegh, CEO of ADNOC Refining, noted:
This milestone represents a significant step towards being a refining business capable of producing ‘zero-fuel oil’. ADNOC will continue to invest in an effort to broaden our product offering amidst evolving market conditions, ensuring we reduce our environmental footprint and maintain IMO-compliance leading up to 2020 and beyond
Improving the flexibility of ADNOC’s refining assets to stretch the value of every barrel of oil and produce additional feedstocks and additives for the petrochemical industry is a key pillar of ADNOC’s Downstream expansion strategy.
ADNOC’s multi-billion-dirham Downstream investment program will see the company’s refining capacity grow by over 65%, or 600,000 barrels per day, by 2025, by adding a third refinery, creating a total capacity of 1.5 million barrels per day.
The new refinery will also significantly increase the capability, flexibility and output of Abu Dhabi’s refining operations by adding to the range of crudes that can be processed.
What is more, ADNOC plans to build one of the world’s largest mixed feed crackers, which will allow it to produce additional feedstocks and additives for the petrochemicals industry.