ADNOC Commits $1.3 Billion to Supertankers and Issues Ninth Spot Tender as Hormuz Disruption Runs Long
ADNOC has sold an estimated 100 million barrels in spot tenders since June and spent $1.3 billion on supertankers as the Hormuz disruption shows no sign of quick resolution.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company issued its ninth consecutive spot crude tender on Thursday (2026-08-20), offering October and November barrels to international buyers in a programme that has run without interruption since early June. Days earlier, ADNOC spent $1.3 billion to acquire five supertankers, Rigzone reported on Friday (2026-08-07), formalising a logistics operation built to route crude around a closed Strait of Hormuz.8,5
ICE Brent crude front-month stood at $91.99 per barrel as of Monday (2026-08-24). ADNOC's sustained export push has been one of the few active supply offsets in a market that has lost enormous volumes since Hormuz effectively closed. CEO Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber said on Wednesday (2026-05-20) that more than 1 billion barrels of oil had been lost since the closure, with close to 100 million additional barrels forfeited for every week the strait remains shut. Even an immediate end to hostilities would take at least four months to bring flows back to 80 percent of pre-conflict levels, Al Jaber said.1
The UAE left OPEC in May, removing quota constraints precisely when production was climbing fastest. Output reached 4.1 million barrels per day in June, a record for the country by trade estimates, and over the two months to early August (2026-08-06) the UAE moved more crude through Hormuz than any other producer, Rigzone reported.8,4
Volume estimates for ADNOC's spot programme diverge across sources. Rigzone reported on Thursday (2026-08-06) that traders put cumulative sales at over 130 million barrels across seven tenders since the start of June. Trade sources told Reuters by mid-August (2026-08-11) that the same tally stood at more than 90 million barrels, rising to over 100 million barrels across eight tenders by Thursday (2026-08-20). The gap between 130 million and 90 million for roughly the same period likely reflects different counting methods and varying access to cargo data; all three figures nonetheless indicate ADNOC has run a spot sales programme with no precedent in its history.4,68
The logistics underpinning those sales involve what traders describe as a shuttle service. ADNOC loads crude onto its own vessels inside the Persian Gulf, moves them through Hormuz when conditions allow, and transfers cargoes ship-to-ship off Fujairah, Oman's Sohar, the west coast of India, and as far as Malaysia, according to numerous trade sources speaking to Zawya on Thursday (2026-08-13). The $1.3 billion supertanker acquisition extends that reach and adds dedicated owned tonnage to what had previously relied more heavily on chartered vessels.7,5
The UAE diverts some exports through an existing pipeline to Fujairah, which has a maximum capacity of 1.8 million barrels per day, against June's record output of 4.1 million bpd. A second bypass pipeline was 50 percent complete as of Wednesday (2026-05-20), with the UAE targeting doubled capacity by 2027. Both pipelines combined would still fall well short of total production, leaving a large share of output dependent on Hormuz transits or ship-to-ship transfers outside the strait.1,23
Shuttle transits made without active AIS tracking, which traders call dark crossings, picked up again following strikes in the region, according to people familiar with the operations reported by Rigzone on Thursday (2026-08-06). The supertanker Romania Prosperity was visible in the strait's shipping lanes during that period, illustrative of the scale at which these logistics now operate.4
Numerous trade sources told Zawya on Thursday (2026-08-13) that ADNOC had become more aggressive and nimble since the Iran war disrupted Gulf trade, shifting from a predominantly term-contract model to one in which spot tenders are issued almost weekly. Nine tenders in fewer than three months is exceptional for any national oil company; for ADNOC it is unprecedented.7
A comprehensive reopening of the strait would sharply alter the picture. More crude would flow from the Persian Gulf, freight premiums for Hormuz transits would compress, and the logistics advantage ADNOC has built through its shuttle fleet would partly dissolve. But negotiations have been stop-start over recent months, repeatedly raising and then erasing market expectations — and a $1.3 billion commitment to supertankers is not a bet Abu Dhabi would make if it expected the disruption to end soon.4,5