Adnoc was forced to close its residual fluid catalytic cracker (RFCC) unit in January last year, after a fire at a nearby propylene unit in the Ruwais Refinery West complex.

South Korea's GS Engineering & Construction was awarded an $865m contract to restore the 127,000 barrel-a-day (b/d) RFCC unit, which is key to the production of gasoline and diesel from straight-run fuel oil. It was originally expected to be completed in early 2019. It is now set for completion in November, with commissioning due to take another month.

UAE produced an average of 109,000 b/d of gasoline in 2016, with the bulk coming from the 840,000 b/d Ruwais complex. Gasoline output dropped to just 58,000 b/d after the fire, and averaged 61,000 b/d for the rest of 2017, according to figures from the Riyadh-based Joint Organizations Data Initiative which seeks to promote transparency in oil production.

The closure of the unit also forced Abu Dhabi to actively look for imported fuels over the last year. The UAE did not import any gasoline in the second half of 2016, but following the fire, averaged only 28,000 b/d in 2017.

ADNOC did not respond to a request for a comment.

The 840,000 b/d Ruwais refinery has been the focus of Abu Dhabi’s downstream development since the 1970s and has had several expansions since its first-phase inauguration in 1982. The most recent project to double the capacity of the Ruwais refinery was completed in 2015.

ADNOC now plans to double capacity again, by building a new 600,000 b/d refinery, a natural gas liquids plant, further refining units and one of the world’s biggest mixed-feed crackers, trebling petrochemicals capacity from 4.5 million tonnes a year (t/y) to 14.4 million t/y by 2025.

Expressions of interest have been sought from international engineering companies for the new 600,000 b/d refinery, and a tender for the pre-front-end engineering and design (pre-feed) work is expected to be issued in September.

Bids are also due in November for contracts to build a new gasoline production facility at Ruwais. ADNOC plans to raise its gasoline production capacity to 9.4 million tonnes a year (t/y) by 2022 with the new gasoline and aromatics project adding 4.2 million t/y, as well as 1.6 million t/y of aromatics.

The new facility’s front-end engineering and design (feed) is being carried out by UK-based Amec, while France’s Axens was chosen for the process licenses. US-based Jacobs Engineering was appointed project management consultant for the feed phase in June last year.