ABU DHABI - Umm Al Nar Refinery.

Located about 25 km from Abu Dhabi, this plant came on stream in 1976 with a capacity of 15,000 b/d, marking ADNOC's entry into the refining business. As local demand for oil products was rising rapidly at the time, ADNOC decided to build a much bigger refinery at Ruwais.

In 1983 a second unit at the refinery, Umm Al Nar II, came on stream with a capacity of 60,000 b/d and the first unit was shut down. The second plant was built by Pullman Kellogg UK, a subsidiary of Pullman of the US. It processes crude oil from the Asab and Sahil fields of the Murban zone (see Gas Market Trends). The capacity of Umm Al Nar II was increased to 75,000 b/d in 1989 through debottlenecking. This was raised to 85,000 b/d in February 1993. A new gasoil desulphurisation unit at the refinery started operating later that month. Other units at the plant include a crude desalting and distillation facility, an LPG sweetening and fractionating unit, a naphtha hydro-desulphurisation unit and a sour water stripper. A project aimed at boosting the refinery's production of jet fuel from 9% to 18% of total output was completed in 1995. A continuous regeneration catalytic reforming unit was also built at the plant.

The refinery is linked to a marine terminal which can handle tankers of 5,000-20,000 dwt. In April 1993, Technip of France won a $18.3m contract to install new management information systems, automated blending and handling systems, advanced control systems and improved instrumentation. The refinery's tank farm has also been expanded through the addition of three new storage tanks and renovation of the existing 11 tanks. In 1994, ADNOC launched a $15m project to expand the sulphur granulation unit from 1,750ytons/day to 4,300 t/d.

In October 1993, a 4,000 t/y lubricants plant came on stream at Umm Al Nar. It is operated by ADNOC-FOD, a unit of ADNOC in charge of marketing refined products and lubricants both domestically and abroad. The plant, billed as the second largest in the world, was built in order to meet the growing local demand for lubricating oils and greases as well as for export to Arab and African countries. It was built by Balmer Lawrie of India, under a contract awarded in January 1992. In addition, ADNOC operates a 30,000 t/y lube oil blending plant which came on stream in the late 1980s. Now new storage and blending units are to be installed at Umm Al Nar.