ADNOC boss calls for defence of Freedom of Navigation and greater suplly chain investment

Speaking with the Atlantic Council last week, ADNOC MD and CEO Dr.Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, also UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, called upon  world leaders to defend Freedom of Navigation through the Strait of Hormuz or risk dampening global growth. If this principle is not defended today, he warned, the whole world will spend the next decade defending against the consequences.

Speaking with the Atlantic Council, Dr. Al Jaber called for investment across the value chain to strengthen the global energy economy. As part of this plan, ADNOC itself is moving forward with a new phase of world-scale project execution, he recounted, including accelerating construction of a second pipeline to double export capacity through Fujairah Port, which bypasses the Strait of Hormuz. 



“Right now, too much of the world’s energy still moves through too few chokepoints,” he said. “That is exactly why the UAE made the decision more than a decade ago to invest in infrastructure that bypasses the Strait. And it is why we moved ahead with our second pipeline in 2025. Today it is already 50 percent complete, and we are accelerating delivery toward 2027.”



Dr. Al Jaber said ADNOC remained committed to its $150 billion (AED551 billion) five-year capital expenditure (CAPEX) program to enhance its operations, drive growth and meet global energy demand. “As a sector, we are dangerously underinvested. Upstream investment is sitting at around $400 billion a year, which barely offsets natural decline rates. Global spare capacity is around 3 million barrels a day. It should be closer to 5. And in just two months, the world drew-down around 250 million barrels from storage. We have 30 to 35 days of effective cover. We need to at least double that.”



Dr. Al Jaber went on to highlight wider supply chain fragility. “Hormuz is not just an oil story. It is an everything story, he said. “Think about it: we are talking LNG, jet fuel, fertilizer, aluminium, helium, critical minerals, plastics, consumer goods and general cargo. In other words, the entire supply chain of the modern global economy, from the food on your table, to the planes in the sky, to the chips in your phone.

He continued: “Fuel prices are up 30 percent, fertilizer is up 50 percent, airfares are up 25 percent. Every farm, factory and family is paying the price. And the ones who are most vulnerable end up carrying the heaviest load. One stat that really stands out: Just over 80 days into this conflict and almost 80 countries have now taken emergency measures to support their economies.”



Detailing the impact of the conflict on oil markets, Dr. Al Jaber noted that while ADNOC can ramp up its oil production in a matter of weeks, it will take four months for oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz to return to 80 per cent of pre-conflict levels and full flows will not return before the first or second quarter of 2027.