ABU DHABI - The Oil Market.

Oil consumption in Abu Dhabi averages 150,000-160,000 b/d, up from 110,000-120,000 b/d in early 2003 and 80,000-90,000 b/d in early 1999, compared to about 260,000 b/d for the whole of the UAE. Abu Dhabi supplies the other UAE emirates with about 70,000-90,000 b/d, up from between 50,000-70,000 b/d in early 2003. The other emirates buy the remainder of their oil products requirements from Fujairah's refinery, from a small plant in Sharjah, from Bahrain and other Arab Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) sources and occasionally from Iran.

ADNOC-FOD acts as a monopoly in Abu Dhabi and, together with foreign oil companies, used to dominate the rest of the UAE market. The dominant role of the foreign oil companies in the other emirates ended in 1980 when the federal entity, Emirates General Petroleum Corp. (Emarat), began distributing oil products. Based in Dubai, Emarat operated service stations in all emirates but Abu Dhabi. To compete with ADNOC-FOD, Emarat in 1992 started buying unleaded gasoline from the international spot market. In 1988 a third distribution company entered the market: Dubai state-owned Emirates Petroleum Products Co. (Eppco), which opened service stations in Dubai and later expanded to other emirates including Fujairah. But the Abu Dhabi market was closed to Eppco. Dubai's Emirates National Oil Co. (ENOC) has a condensate refinery at Jebel Ali on stream since 1999 (2006 UAE survey in Vol. 66).