International Petroleum Investment Corporation (Ipic) has appointed the UK’s HSBC as financial adviser for its estimated $3bn refinery project being developed in Fujairah, on the east coast of the UAE.

The project, which Ipic wants to be completed by 2017, is part of a strategic plan by the Abu Dhabi government to develop oil export resources that bypass the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that separates the UAE and Iran.

Banks could be approached in late 2014 to fund the scheme, according to sources close to the project.

The Fujairah refinery will be built near the end of a 1.5 million barrel-a-day pipeline that takes oil from the Habshan oil field for export from Fujairah out through the Gulf of Oman. Iran has previously threatened to disrupt oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz in response to oil sanctions against it by the EU and the US.

Ipic is also working in a joint venture with Mubadala Development Company to build a terminal for importing gas at a nearby site in Fujairah.

HSBC declined to comment.