ADNOC Refining, a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), has announced that it has successfully completed the commissioning of a specialized coker unit, as part of its Carbon Black and Coker Project. With this, ADNOC will extract the maximum value from ‘bottom-of-the-barrel’ heavy oils and slurry, as it delivers on its aggressive downstream strategy, the company said in a statement. ADNOC’s Carbon Black & Coker Project incorporates a coker, known in the oil and gas industry as a ‘delayed coker’, that will allow ADNOC Refining to recover highly specialized and valuable grades of carbon black and calcined coke. Not only will it create higher value from what would otherwise be used for low value fuel oil, but both products are essential to industrial processes within ADNOC subsidiaries and other UAE industries, potentially removing the need to import costly raw materials, said the statement carried on Emirates News Agency. Increasing the flexibility of ADNOC’s refining assets to stretch the value of every barrel of oil – and produce additional feedstocks and additives for the petrochemical industry – is a key pillar of ADNOC’s Downstream expansion strategy, announced at its Downstream Investment Forum earlier this year. The strategy will see ADNOC become a world-class producer, supplier and trader of refined and petrochemical products, as it focuses on growth markets in Asia, including China. ADNOC’s multi-billion-dirham Downstream investment program will see the company’s refining capacity increase by more than 65 percent, or 600,000 bpd, by 2025, through the addition of a third refinery, creating a total capacity of 1.5 million barrels per day (mbpd). The new refinery will significantly increase the capability, flexibility and output of Abu Dhabi’s refining operations by adding to the range of crudes that can be processed. ADNOC also plans to build one of the world’s largest mixed feed crackers, which will enable it to produce additional feedstocks and additives for the petrochemicals industry. "At the heart of our Downstream strategy is an AED165 billion (US$45 billion) investment, over the next five years, that will create the world’s largest integrated refining and petrochemicals hub in Ruwais, where ADNOC will convert 20 percent of its crude to chemicals, tripling petrochemical production capacity to 14.4 million tonnes per year, by 2025,” Director of ADNOC’s Downstream Directorate Abdulaziz AlHajri said. “In parallel, ADNOC intends to build an international, integrated Downstream presence, including securing additional crude refining capacity in growth markets,” he added.