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Amid Strait of Hormuz tensions, why UAE's Fujairah port is key to oil trade | Explained
The Fujairah port is located on the Gulf of Oman, approximately 70 nautical miles from the Strait of Hormuz.
A day after being hit by drone debris and enduring a fire, the United Arab Emirates' Fujairah port resumed its oil-loading operations on Sunday, Bloomberg and Reuters reported, citing sources.
The Fujairah port is a major global hub for ship refuelling and for crude and fuel exports. Located just outside the Strait of Hormuz, it is of great importance to the global oil market. Here is why.
The global importance of the Fujairah port
According to Kepler data, Fujairah exported an average of more than 1.7 million barrels per day of crude oil and refined fuels last year. This is a volume equal to about 1.7 per cent of the daily world demand.
The port is located on the Gulf of Oman, approximately 70 nautical miles from the Strait of Hormuz. Its importance has grown manifold in the global market due to the effective closure of the key strategic route amid the US-Iran war, which began on February 28.
It sold 7.4 million cubic metres (about 7.33 million metric tons) of marine fuels in 2025, making it the fourth-largest in the world after Singapore, Rotterdam, and China's Zhoushan.
Why is the Fujairah port key for the UAE?
The UAE is a big player in the oil industry, which produced more than 3.4 million bpd of crude before the war began. The country operates a 1.5 million bpd pipeline that can transport some crude to bypass the Strait of Hormuz.
The Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline (ADCOP), also known as the Habshan–Fujairah Pipeline, transports oil from Abu Dhabi’s fields to Fujairah. The port loads the UAE's Murban crude grade, sold mostly to buyers in Asia.
Any disruption in Fujairah would force the UAE, OPEC’s third-largest crude producer, to shut down more production.
Fujairah port’s massive market impact
The port has a storage capacity of 18 million cubic metres, making it one of the world's top hubs for crude and fuel storage and blending operations.
Blending in the oil industry is the process of combining different petroleum components to produce finished products, such as gasoline and bunker fuels, that meet specific standards.
Major global storage companies operate at the port, including VTTI, Vitol, ADNOC, Vopak, and others.
The Fujairah Oil Industry Zone hosts West Asia’s largest commercial storage capacity for refined products.
