ADNOC Rejects INPEX Executive's January 2027 Timeline for Second Fujairah Pipeline
ADNOC called a reported schedule for its second West-East crude line 'false and inaccurate', while saying only that operations are due to start in 2027.
ADNOC has pushed back on a reported timetable for finishing its second crude oil export pipeline through Fujairah, after an INPEX executive said the line could be complete around January 2027.
Toshiaki Takimoto, senior executive vice president at INPEX, gave the estimate at a media briefing in Tokyo. He said the additional line could lift crude transportation capacity from about 1.8 million barrels a day to 3.6 million, a doubling, and that a third pipeline was planned for completion around 2029. INPEX would consider backing further infrastructure expansion if it were asked to, he added.
An ADNOC spokesperson described the reported account as "false and inaccurate" and declined to elaborate.
The state producer has said construction of the second West-East pipeline is under way, confirming as much in a May 15 statement, and that operations are expected to begin in 2027. Sultan Al Jaber, ADNOC's managing director and group chief executive, said the project, launched in 2025, had reached 50% completion and was being accelerated toward 2027. The company has not publicly confirmed a January completion date, nor the 2029 schedule for a third line, in its official announcements.
The pipeline is designed to expand crude export capacity through Fujairah, on the Gulf of Oman coast, letting shipments bypass the Strait of Hormuz. That route has mattered more since the US-Iran war broke out in February 2026 and severely disrupted tanker traffic through the strait. ADNOC has made alternative export infrastructure part of a wider strategy to shore up supply resilience and cut reliance on maritime chokepoints.
The conflicting accounts leave the timing of extra capacity unsettled at a moment when refiners and buyers are already pricing in the risk of Hormuz closures.
The disagreement over dates runs alongside a deepening commercial relationship. INPEX is a long-standing upstream partner of ADNOC, holding interests in several Abu Dhabi oil and gas concessions, and in July 2026 the two signed a 15-year agreement covering LNG supply from the Ruwais LNG project.
Al Jaber placed second in a 2026 ranking of the region's top 100 chief executives. Ibrahim Al-Zu'bi, ADNOC's group chief sustainability and ESG officer, took third place in the oil and gas category of a 2026 ranking of Middle East sustainability leaders.
