According to Bloomberg, the UAE has restarted operations at its biggest natural gas processing plant i.e. Habshan Complex after having closed down the facility last week due to Iran’s attacks. That at least according to a person familiar with the situation.
That being said, the only operating LNG production plant in the country at Das Island continues to be in more or less idle state. That as shipping along the Strait of Hormuz remains disrupted and the UAE cannot export its natural gas out at the moment. And the only reason why it is in idle state i.e. operating at low levels is so that it can allow for a quick restart if and when the strait eventually opens.
For now, the Habshan Complex’s processing facility and fuel from Qatar via the Dolphin pipeline is at least helping to keep the domestic gas network fully supplied. However, that seems to be just about it. There’s nothing going out as the UAE cannot export any LNG produced through Das Island.
For some context, natural gas produced from UAE’s offshore fields are sent to Das Island first. That is then fed to a pipeline to the Habshan Complex for final processing.
With Das Island being the UAE’s only operational export hub at the moment, the country’s revenue stream is basically zero amid the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz. As for the Habshan Complex, it is a key facility that processes roughly 60% of the UAE’s total domestic gas.
As such, don’t be too quick to pick up on the headline here. The details is what matters. So long as the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, the UAE still cannot get natural gas out from Das Island. And that is still the most important thing at the moment.
And that means countries in Asia continue to suffer, especially the likes of India, Japan, and China. Those are the UAE’s biggest LNG importers, especially India which accounts for nearly half of the total amount.
This article was written by Justin Low at investinglive.com.
