ADNOC secures Shell deal for Ruwais LNG, locking in over 80% of capacity

ADNOC signs 15-year LNG supply deal with Shell, pushing Ruwais offtake above 80%

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L-R - Tom Summers, Executive Vice President of Shell LNG Marketing and Trading and Fatema Al Nuaimi, CEO, ADNOC Gas.
L-R - Tom Summers, Executive Vice President of Shell LNG Marketing and Trading and Fatema Al Nuaimi, CEO, ADNOC Gas.
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Dubai: ADNOC has signed a 15-year LNG supply agreement with Shell for up to one million tonnes per year from its Ruwais LNG project, strengthening offtake commitments and keeping the development on track for start-up in late 2028.

The deal, finalised during ADIPEC, is ADNOC’s first long-term LNG agreement with Shell and the eighth offtake contract tied to Ruwais. More than eight million tonnes per annum out of a planned 9.6 mtpa is now contracted, just 16 months after the project reached final investment decision in July 2024.

"Securing over 80% of Ruwais LNG’s capacity in just over a year from FID is a remarkable achievement that sets a new benchmark for large-scale LNG projects globally," said Fatema Al Nuaimi, CEO, ADNOC Gas. "While the industry can take up to four or five years to market such volumes, Ruwais is advancing at record pace.

"In parallel, construction, contractor mobilization, and site works are all on track for commissioning by the end of 2028.”

The agreement converts a previous heads of agreement into a firm sales and purchase contract. Shell already holds a 10% stake in the Ruwais LNG joint venture alongside ADNOC, bp, Mitsui and TotalEnergies.

Ruwais LNG is positioned to be one of the lowest-carbon intensity projects of its type, powered by clean electricity and designed with digital and AI systems to improve safety, efficiency and emissions management. With two 4.8 mtpa trains, the plant will increase ADNOC Gas’ LNG capacity to around 15 mtpa, more than doubling current output.

The progress on contracting and project execution strengthens ADNOC’s path to developing a larger LNG portfolio to serve growing global gas demand, especially in Asia and Europe. The company expects the facility to reach commercial operations by the fourth quarter of 2028.

Nivetha Dayanand is Assistant Business Editor at Gulf News, covering aviation, financial markets and commodities. A business and financial journalist with a strong interest in multimedia storytelling, she regularly takes complex financial and economic subjects beyond the written word, producing explainer videos that make them easier for a wider audience to understand. Nivetha has interviewed senior policymakers, business leaders and global financial figures both on and off camera. Her past guests include UAE Minister of Economy and Tourism Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, Khaled bin Alwaleed Al Saud, a member of the House of Saud and the founder and CEO of KBW Ventures, Jihad Azour, Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund and Indian ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and N. Chandrababu Naidu. She has also hosted and moderated panels, conferences and awards shows, bringing her newsroom experience to live conversations on business, finance and the economy. An Erasmus Mundus journalism alum, Nivetha is drawn to stories that affect people directly and to reporting that gives a platform to voices that might otherwise go unheard. She was among the first journalists to speak to Petrofac employees in the UAE about unpaid salaries, broke the news of the planned demolition of Dubai’s well-known “Toyota Building”, and helped set the record straight on widely circulated claims that a giant replica of the Moon was coming to Dubai. More recently, her exclusive interview with EDGE Group CEO Hamad Al Marar revealed how the UAE-based defence group deployed its systems along the country’s shore border and established a geofence around the UAE within 48 hours of the February 28 escalation. Prior to joining Gulf News, Nivetha worked at ITP Media, where she helped launch Finance Middle East, a new publication covering the region’s financial sector. Her role spanned reporting and editing, video production, interviews and events. Across print, digital, and video, she focuses on finding the people behind business stories and explaining why those stories matter to the audience reading or watching them.

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