ADNOC Gas is weighing a new liquefied natural gas export terminal in Fujairah that would let the company route shipments around the Strait of Hormuz entirely. The facility would target 4 million tonnes per year and sits inside a broader $20 billion expansion of the company's gas processing capacity. It follows a routing strategy ADNOC already uses for crude oil exports.
ADNOC Gas, the listed gas arm of Abu Dhabi's state oil company, is exploring a new liquefied natural gas export facility in Fujairah, on the UAE's eastern coast, that would let shipments bypass the Strait of Hormuz entirely. The initiative entered a design competition and bidding phase in June 2026, targeting a capacity of 4 million tonnes per annum. ADNOC Gas currently runs its LNG operations from Das Island, on the exposed side of the strait.
Why ADNOC wants a route around Hormuz
ADNOC has already hedged against this exposure on the crude oil side. The company operates the Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline, also called the West-East pipeline, which carries onshore oil to the Fujairah export terminal, and that pipeline's planned expansion was recently reported to be nearly 50% complete. A Fujairah LNG facility would extend the same routing logic to gas exports.
The case has grown more urgent after recent regional disruptions. ADNOC Gas posted a Q1 2026 net income of $1.1 billion, a result the company described as resilient despite production adjustments forced by Hormuz-related shipping challenges.
Part of a $20 billion expansion
The Fujairah terminal is not a standalone project. It sits inside a broader push by ADNOC Gas to invest more than $20 billion in expanding its gas processing capacity by approximately 30% by 2029. Fujairah, located on the Gulf of Oman rather than the Persian Gulf, has spent years building credentials as an alternative export hub — it already hosts one of the world's largest bunkering ports, and ADNOC's crude pipeline terminal there can reach Asian markets without Hormuz exposure.
A modest addition to a crowded market
The design competition launched in June 2026 will narrow down engineering and construction partners for the facility, and projects of this scale typically take four to six years from design to first cargo, making a mid-2030s start a reasonable baseline if the project stays on schedule. Qatar, meanwhile, is expanding its North Field toward a targeted 126 million tonnes per annum of capacity, and the US remains the world's largest LNG exporter as new Gulf Coast terminals come online. ADNOC's 4 mtpa addition is modest next to those totals, but the Fujairah routing advantage could still command a premium from buyers who value supply security.
Source: Crypto Briefing
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