UAE oil exports have overtaken prewar levels, running 27 per cent above their 12-month average and just shy of the highest level on record since 2017, according to data from energy intelligence company Kpler.
The Emirates shipped 3.94 million barrels a day of crude and condensate in June, the highest monthly total in the past year, and a sharp reversal from March, when the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz cut exports to a record low of 2.13 million barrels a day.
The recovery has been led by two of Abu Dhabi's main offshore export terminals. Zirku Island, the emirate's single largest loading point for crude produced offshore by Adnoc, shipped 1.06 million barrels a day in June, about 15 per cent above its prewar average.
Das Island, an older Adnoc terminal that also handles gas processing, returned to 667,000 barrels a day, essentially back to its normal rate, after dropping to 194,000 barrels a day in the early weeks of the war.
The biggest structural change has been in Fujairah, where crude arrives through the Habshan pipeline rather than by ship through the Strait of Hormuz.
Exports from there have run 74 per cent above their prewar average since the war began and have not fallen, supporting the UAE economy while its Gulf terminals were cut off. Jebel Dhanna, an onshore Adnoc terminal on the western coast that depends on tanker access through the strait, has shipped nothing since April.
The UAE's exit from Opec in May has added to the surge, freeing the country from the group's output quotas just as its infrastructure was recovering from the disruption of the war. The June figures reflect a return of prewar capacity and the removal of a cap that had constrained exports beforehand.
UAE-linked traffic through the strait fell to just 11,300 barrels a day in March before climbing back to 2.1 million barrels a day in June, within 5 per cent of its prewar level. Net exports routed through the Gulf of Oman have kept rising regardless, more than tripling from 303,000 barrels a day in April to 961,000 barrels a day in June.
The trend matches the International Energy Agency's estimates regarding the country's export rebound.
UAE exports rose from 1.9 million barrels a day in March to 4.3 million barrels a day in early June, about 85 per cent of prewar levels, helped by the pipeline and the 42 million-barrel Mandous storage complex near Fujairah, the IEA said.
It estimated that the Middle East lost more than 1.3 billion barrels of supply overall, with throughput through the Strait of Hormuz averaging only 2.7 million barrels a day during March, April and May, down from about 20 million barrels a day before the war.
Global energy markets have suffered their largest supply disruption in history as a result of the closure of the strait.
The UAE is engaged in efforts to establish alternative export routes with the goal of eliminating its dependency on the Strait of Hormuz.
Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Foreign Trade, said last month that the country is working towards “zero Hormuz dependency,” and voiced support for plans to expand eastern ports at Dibba, Fujairah and Khor Fakkan.
