Dubai government-owned Emirates National Oil Company (Enoc) is set to increase capacity at its Jebel Ali oil refinery to 210,000 barrels per day (bpd) and undertake other key projects as part of an ambitious five-year strategy.

As part of its five-year strategy 2016-2021, Enoc will focus its efforts and investments on fulfilling Dubai’s energy needs through the expansion of its refinery and service station network, building terminals storage capacity, and increasing its market share in the marketing of diesel, jet fuel and liquefied petroleum gas, Wam agency reported.

The projects include a 50 per cent capacity increase of Enoc’s Jebel Ali refinery to reach 210,000 bpd, as well as the construction of Project Falcon’s 19-km jet fuel pipeline extension to Al Maktoum Airport by the end of 2018. These projects reflect Enoc’s commitment to supply 60 per cent of jet fuel volumes at Dubai airports by 2050, the company said.

A key component of the group’s strategic direction is to expand the retail network within Dubai to deliver an array of offerings including non-fuel and other supplementary services. 

This includes ongoing renovation of major service stations in Dubai and the construction of 54 new stations by 2020.

Saeed Al Tayer, Enoc’s vice chairman, said: “Over the past decade, primary energy consumption in the Arabian Gulf has grown more than twice as fast as the world average of 2.5 per cent per year. The UAE is witnessing a similar rise in consumption led by an increase in population and the need to drive infrastructure development. To address this, Enoc will work to achieve the goals of Dubai Plan 2021 through an innovative approach focused on product positioning as identified by our new growth strategy.

Meeting the energy needs of Dubai is the primary objective of the group, with a focus on developing synergies across the value chain to deliver world-class sustainable and integrated energy solutions.”

Saif Humaid Al Falasi, group CEO of Enoc, added: “Our new strategy aims to achieve the sustainable development goals of Dubai, while promoting energy sector efficiency. Our integrated development model, ‘One Enoc’, will strengthen our operations and global footprint by drawing on synergies between our upstream and downstream business segments.”

“Additionally, ‘One Enoc’will serve as a platform for the group to develop capabilities to compete locally and internationally and strengthen the collaborative spirit amongst our employees to enable them to drive our growth aspirations in an integrated fashion.”

As part of Enoc’s long-term strategy, the board appointed Zaid Alqufaidi as new managing director of Enoc Retail, and Burhan Al Hashemi as the managing director of Enoc Marketing, two business units that have strong expansion plans.

Enoc operates across five different segments: Retail; Supply, Trading and Processing (STP); Marketing, Horizon Terminals, and Dragon Oil.

In 2015, the group’s sales volume of crude oil and petroleum products reached a historic high surpassing 220 million barrels, reflecting an increase of 16 per cent over the previous year.