ADNOC Distribution’s Athmane Benzerroug on retail media, non-fuel growth and a greener network
ADNOC Distribution is transforming the traditional fuel stop into a connected platform for retail, mobility, media and sustainable growth, says Benzerroug
05 August, 2026
TT
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Ask most people what ADNOC Distribution does and the answer is fuel. Ask Athmane Benzerroug, ADNOC Distribution’s chief strategy, transformation and sustainability officer, and you get a different word: platform.
With the launch of Engage by ADNOC, a retail media network that turns the group’s daily customer traffic into an advertising business, the UAE’s largest mobility and convenience retailer is making its clearest statement yet that the forecourt has become the front door to something much larger.
Engage by ADNOC, unveiled on July 29, is billed as the first full-funnel retail media network operated in the UAE by a mobility and convenience retailer. It lets brands advertise to ADNOC Distribution’s customers across the company’s own physical and digital channels: the ADNOC Rewards app, online platforms, screens at service stations and inside Oasis by ADNOC stores.
Crucially, it also lets them measure the results.
For Benzerroug, the timing is deliberate. “It is the right time, and let me give you the big picture,” he says. “Retail media is growing at double digits globally. This is called the third wave of digital advertising. Now is the right time because the platform is ready.” The reach, he argues, is what makes it work: nearly 700,000 customers served every day, more than 250 million transactions a year, and over 2.7 million ADNOC Rewards members. “We have the relationships with the customers and the brands, and we have the digital and loyalty infrastructure to make retail media relevant and measurable at scale.”
He frames Engage as the logical next stage of a longer journey. “Engage by ADNOC is the natural next step in our evolution: the vision is to move from a fuel retailer into a customer-centric mobility and convenience platform. It connects the brands with the customers across our stations, the Oasis convenience stores, the digital channels and the ADNOC Rewards touchpoints.”
For investors, he says, the message is simple: “This is an asset-light growth opportunity that monetises the infrastructure and the customer traffic we already have.”
Value from what it already owns
The commercial logic, in Benzerroug’s telling, rests on assets the company does not have to build. “Financially, this creates a new revenue stream from assets already embedded in our business,” he says. “It is about creating value from the customer journeys, the station traffic, the digital channels and the loyalty engagement that we already own. The model is attractive because it is asset-light, scalable and aligned with our non-fuel retail growth strategy.”
That non-fuel business is now the company’s fastest-growing engine, and Benzerroug is quick to explain how it fits together. “When you come to the station, the first touchpoint is either the fuel or the charging. The second touchpoint is the non-fuel retail: the convenience stores, the car wash, the lube change and the quick-service restaurants.” The numbers behind it are striking: non-fuel retail gross profit grew more than 14 per cent year-on-year in 2025, with a further 10 per cent in the first quarter of 2026, comfortably outpacing fuel volumes. “Non-fuel retail has been growing at double digits, much faster than fuel volumes,” he says, “and Engage by ADNOC adds a structured media layer to that growth engine.”
Engage itself is expected to generate more than $25m in cumulative gross profit over its first five years.
With roughly two-thirds of all fuel transactions in the UAE taking place across its network, ADNOC Distribution can offer brands one of the country’s highest-frequency audiences, a reach Benzerroug returns to repeatedly. The platform brings together a growing ecosystem of partners spanning media, data, AI and measurement: Publicis Groupe, Pyxis, a subsidiary of International Holding Company, LiveRamp and Network International. “The platform combines media, data, AI and measurement capabilities to help brands engage customers in a more relevant and measurable way,” Benzerroug says. “That is what they care about: making sure they can address the right customers at the right time.”
Two customers, one network
He is careful to distinguish the two audiences Engage serves. “Let me start with the customers,” he says. “We are bringing a more personalised shopping experience and new product discovery backed by data insights, analytics and AI, and this is why the 250 million transactions matter. We are leveraging the ADNOC Rewards programme.” He offers a yardstick for that scale: “If you do a simple search online, you will see the total number of cars in the country is roughly five million, so the ADNOC Distribution loyalty app is central to this.” All of that audience insight, the company notes, is used in line with applicable privacy requirements and customer consent.
For brands, the draw is access. “It is an opportunity to leverage the important touchpoints in our daily customer journey,” he says. “They will now be able to reach ADNOC Distribution customers across our network and online. They will have access to high-frequency audiences at scale, because we are the largest player in the UAE, serving more than 700,000 customers every day.”
Pressed on whether this is, in essence, monetising the network, Benzerroug does not hesitate. “The discussion I have with our CEO and my fellow chiefs is always: what is the most important asset we have? It is our network. We have the scale, and we can leverage the important touchpoints in the daily customer journey.” The result, he says, is meant to work for everyone. “It is about connecting the brands and the customers through this loyalty programme, data insights, analytics and AI, so that for both of them it is a win-win. And at the end of the day, we are monetising our network.”
The greener forecourt
Retail media is only one strand of Benzerroug’s remit; sustainability is another, and he insists it is core rather than cosmetic. “Sustainability is core to the business, not a fancy word,” he says. “Over the past three or four years, ADNOC Distribution has delivered tangible initiatives to decarbonise.” The headline target is a 25 per cent reduction in emission intensity by 2030; notable, he stresses, “for a network that is growing.”
The initiatives behind the number are deliberately practical. “We bring fuel from the depots to the stations,” he says, describing a UAE network of more than 560 stations, over 60 per cent of it company-owned, “so those trucks consume fuel. We have shifted 1 per cent of the owned trucks to biofuel.” At the stations, the focus turns to electricity. “In the convenience store there is air conditioning, refrigeration, coffee machines: we are changing the AC for the optimum units and converting lighting to LED.”
His summary of the approach is characteristically blunt: “I like to say common sense is not common. It is simple, but you have to check that every element is compliant with what we want to achieve.” Then he points upward. “You look up at the roof: we are installing solar panels at more than 100 stations, generating green energy.”
Electric vehicles complete the picture, through the company’s E2GO charging brand. “Through EV charging we allow customers to run kilometres with a lower emission footprint.” The cumulative effect, he says, has been a marked climb up the ESG rankings. “ADNOC Distribution is a listed company closely followed by investors and ESG rating agencies. While we were once unranked, we are now among the world’s top three mobility and convenience companies for sustainability,” he adds.
Building the destination
The wider transformation, Benzerroug says, is about making customers choose ADNOC Distribution “again and again”, turning a fuel stop into a destination. “Transformation is about making this physical network deliver the best assets for them: the best convenience stores, with fresh food and well-priced coffee; upgraded car washes with the latest tunnel technology; better bundled offerings across car wash and lube change; and the right quick-service restaurants.”
Digitalisation and payments, he adds, run through all of it.
The clearest expression is The Hub by ADNOC. “The hub is a community hub attached to the stations,” he says, “to make sure people choose ADNOC Distribution, and they have better options.” These larger community sites add non-fuel retail, playground areas, coffee, padel courts and supermarkets, all in Abu Dhabi.
Going global
The final piece is international, pursued “in a disciplined manner,” Benzerroug says. “We are already in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, both delivering good growth, and we are focused on improving the customer experience there.” Then comes the boldest step. “One month back, on July 7, we announced the acquisition of Shell Downstream South Africa. It is 580 stations.”
That deal, signed for an implied enterprise value of about $1bn, is ADNOC Distribution’s largest overseas acquisition to date. It operates 580 fuel stations, along with wholesale fuel, aviation, and lubricants operations. It would expand the group’s global network by around 55 per cent to roughly 1,600 sites while lifting annual fuel volumes by about a fifth.
South Africa becomes the company’s fourth market, and Benzerroug is clear about the appeal. “It is a country with a protective regulatory framework, long-term fuel growth driven by a young driving-age population, and government investment in infrastructure over the next three years.”
The transaction is expected to close in 2027, subject to regulatory approvals.
Now in its 52nd year, ADNOC Distribution has been fuelling journeys since 1973; today it operates 1,032 stations across the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, 386 Oasis convenience stores and 400 E2GO charging points, and sells lubricants in 53 countries. For Benzerroug, though, the agenda reduces to something simpler. “The focus is to continue to grow, give a better customer experience every day, and create value for shareholders.” Fuel remains the foundation. The growth, increasingly, is everywhere else.
