ADNOC Sustains Crude Tenders as Hormuz Transits Stall at 27 Vessels Per Day
Abu Dhabi's state oil company has issued seven tenders since June using its Fujairah bypass pipeline and partial strait access, even as Hormuz shipping runs well below pre-war capacity.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company has kept its crude export program running more consistently than most Gulf producers throughout the Hormuz disruption, drawing on both the Fujairah bypass pipeline and available strait transits to move barrels to buyers, according to analysis published on Thursday (2026-08-06).6
ADNOC issued its seventh crude tender since the beginning of June by late July (2026-07-24), offering millions of barrels for delivery between August and October. Seven tenders in roughly eight weeks is a pace few regional exporters have matched while Hormuz traffic has remained subdued.5
Saudi Arabia, the largest Gulf exporter, shipped roughly 34 million barrels through the strait between the June 17 ceasefire and early July (2026-07-06), according to Kpler cargo-tracking data. But only around 27 commercial vessels a day were transiting during that period, well short of the waterway's pre-conflict throughput.4
ICE Brent crude front-month was at $88.01 a barrel as of 02:02 UTC on Thursday (2026-08-13), still elevated by historical norms.
The UAE's export continuity rests substantially on an existing pipeline stretching east to Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman. ADNOC has redirected a portion of its crude through that route, which has a maximum capacity of 1.8 million barrels per day, allowing it to bypass the strait for a share of its volumes.2
Al Jaber estimated on Wednesday (2026-05-20) that the blockade had cost the market more than one billion barrels in total, with nearly 100 million additional barrels lost for each week Hormuz stayed closed. By the time he spoke, the blockade was approaching its eleventh week, according to Guardian reporting.2,1
Recovery after the ceasefire has been gradual. Al Jaber said it would take at least four months to ramp oil flows to 80% of normal levels even if hostilities had ended immediately — measured from June 17, that puts mid-October as the earliest realistic point for near-normal supply.2
The UAE is meanwhile advancing a second bypass pipeline. ADNOC had completed nearly 50% of the project as of Wednesday (2026-05-20), Al Jaber said, with plans in place to double export capacity at the Fujairah terminal. Both moves are intended to reduce reliance on Hormuz permanently, not merely during active conflict.2,3
"Right now, too much of the world's energy still moves through too few chokepoints," Al Jaber said in the interview on Wednesday (2026-05-20).2
Asian buyers carry particular freight exposure given their dependence on Hormuz-routed cargoes. JKM, the benchmark for LNG delivered to Northeast Asia, was trading near $21.24 per MMBtu on Thursday (2026-08-13), with both the slow pace of Hormuz recovery and ongoing Red Sea complications adding cost and routing risk for cargoes moving east.
ADNOC has not disclosed what share of its tendered volumes moves through Fujairah versus the strait. Until Hormuz vessel transits recover beyond the 27-per-day pace recorded in early July (2026-07-06), buyers contracting for October delivery lack a clear picture of the physical routing and freight costs embedded in what they are purchasing.5,4