ADNOC injects $55bn into UAE refining and manufacturing activities

ADNOC confirmed that it is deploying AED 200bn ($55bn) in capital investment across refining, manufacturing and marketing between 2026 and 2028. 

This comes as the UAE accelerates its push to reduce dependence on foreign imports and consolidate its position as a global energy and chemicals hub.

The investment package, announced by ADNOC at the "Make with ADNOC" forum, spans a portfolio of flagship projects central to the UAE's National Strategy for Industry and Advanced Technology.

The Borouge 4 petrochemical expansion will add 1.4mn tonnes per year of production capacity, bringing the total to 6.4mn tonnes annually, and will feature one of the world's largest facilities equipped with Borstar technology. Contracts and purchases worth AED 2.2bn ($600mn) have already been awarded to UAE-based companies during the project's development phase.

The Ta'zeez joint chemicals venture between ADNOC and ADQ is proceeding in parallel, with phase one targeting 4.7mn tonnes of chemical output per year by 2028.

The project is projected to contribute AED 183bn ($50bn) to the national economy, generating 20,000 construction-phase jobs and 6,000 permanent positions. Long-term commercial agreements worth AED 104.6bn ($28.5bn) have been secured across methanol and polyvinyl chloride value chains.

Infrastructure contracts are also advancing at scale. ADNOC Gas awarded $5bn in EPC contracts for the first phase of its Rich Gas Development Project, while the Ruwais LNG project drew a single EPC award of AED 20.2bn ($5.5bn), with 55% of contract value earmarked for local economic redirection.

Nasser Omair Al Muhairi, CEO of ADNOC's Refining, Manufacturing, Marketing and Trading division, told WAM that the integrated model spanning raw material supply, production, logistics and trading was "enhancing the security of supply chains" and increasing the competitiveness of local manufacturing. This framing places ADNOC's capital deployment squarely within Abu Dhabi's longer-term ambition to export industrial value, not just hydrocarbons.