Qatar joins Iraq, Saudi Arabia in sending crude supplies to UAE

Qatar this month joined Saudi Arabia and Iraq in sending crude oil to the UAE after state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil upgraded its Ruwais West Refinery in Abu Dhabi to process more crudes from other nations and to free up exports of its flagship Murban grade.

Qatar has shipped about 500,000 barrels of its Al Shaheen grade to Ruwais this month, according to S&P Global Commodities at Sea ship-tracking data.

Iraq delivered about 1 million barrels of Basrah Heavy crude to Ruwais in both April and May, its first-ever shipments to Ruwais, while Saudi Arabia exported about 400,000 barrels of Arab crude in January to Ruwais and another 500,000 barrels in February, the data show.

Murban exports are averaging 1.4 million b/d this month after an eight-year high of 1.666 million b/d in April, CAS data showed.

Ruwais, with total capacity of 837,000 b/d, is made up of two plants: Ruwais Refinery East, at 420,000 b/d, and Ruwais Refinery West, at 417,000 b/d, located on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi.

Fujairah port on the UAE's east coast accounts for about 75% of Murban exports, with the rest shipped out from Ruwais port. The complex has long served as a supplier of gasoline for the UAE market, along with ENOC and Emarat.

The $3.5-billion crude flexibility project at Ruwais allows ADNOC to process up to 420,000 b/d of heavier and sourer grades of crude than Murban, which historically had been the predominant crude used at Ruwais.

Murban is a light sour crude, competing against other crudes such as Saudi Arabia's Arab Extra Light, Qatar's Land and Iraq's Kirkuk, with a gravity of 40.5 and sulfur content of 0.74%, according to the Platts Periodic Table of Oil, produced by S&P Global Commodity Insights.

Qatar's Al Shaheen is a medium sour grade, competing with Oman Export Grade and Urals from Russia. Iraq's Basrah Heavy is a heavy sour grade, competing with Shengli from China and Oriente from Ecuador.