The UAE will protect its energy infrastructure and invest in new export routes, storage capacity abroad and shipping fleets to be better prepared for the US-Israeli war on Iran, its energy minister said on Monday.
Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei said the course of the war could not be predicted, but the UAE would be more prepared than before.
The UAE has been exporting crude via Fujairah, which sits just outside the Strait of Hormuz. It is building a new pipeline to Fujairah that will double crude capacity by next year.
"I think after this crisis, many companies are going to look, think again, and design, redesign their facilities to be more resilient in the future," Mazrouei told reporters on the sidelines of the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference.
"Resilience is a big word. And it has layers, from the barrel that you produce to the destination that you take it," he said, adding: "You need to be closer to your customers."
Mazrouei earlier told the conference that at certain times his country's exports were higher than prior to the war.
Reuters had reported in June that the UAE boosted crude oil and condensate exports to a record high, shortly after it left the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
(Reporting by Maha El Dahan, Sarah El Safty and Stephanie Kelly; Editing by Aidan Lewis)