The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) has suspended crude oil loading operations at its Fujairah port in the UAE following a drone strike that triggered a fire at the facility. The extent of the damage and a timeline for restoring operations remain unclear.

Strategic Importance of the Fujairah Port

Adnoc had been using the Fujairah port on the Gulf of Oman as an alternative export route to avoid the disrupted Strait of Hormuz, where several vessels have been attacked. Exports flow via the Habshan-Fujairah pipeline, which has a capacity of 1.5 million barrels per day. This disruption has significantly impacted Adnoc's loadings, which were approximately 3.4 million barrels per day as of January 2026, in line with OPEC+ quotas.

Response and Broader Regional Context

Civil defence teams responded immediately to the fire and are working to control it. This incident is part of a wider pattern of attacks on Middle Eastern energy infrastructure. A drone attack last week also forced a precautionary shutdown at an Adnoc refinery in Ruwais. Analysts estimate that total oil production outages in the Middle East have now reached around 9 million barrels per day following Iran's retaliatory attacks on facilities in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and other Persian Gulf countries.