Murban Exports Soar As Adnoc Refines Record Upper Zakum Volumes

12 Apr 2024 Issue: 67 / 15 By: Jamie Ingram

With Adnoc’s Crude Flexibility Project hitting its straps, Murban crude exports are at record levels, while Upper Zakum exports are shrinking fast and contributing to an increasingly tight market for medium-sour crude oil.

Adnoc Refining is running record volumes of the medium-sour Upper Zakum crude grade through its 417,000 b/d Ruwais West refinery, displacing substantial volumes of Murban crude onto global export markets. This has been enabled by the completion of the Crude Flexibility Project (CFP), which enables Ruwais West to process heavier crude grades, rather than relying on Murban.

Regular deliveries of Upper Zakum (34° API, 1.75% Sulfur) crude via tanker from Zirku Island (see map) began in September 2023 and gradually increased in the subsequent months, hitting 145,000 b/d in February according to data intelligence firm Kpler. This then spiked to a record 361,000 b/d in March (see chart 1), along with 10,000 b/d of the lighter Das grade (38.8° API, 1.1% Sulfur) which is more akin to Murban (40°API, 0.7% sulfur). (CONTINUED - 1167 WORDS)