Fujairah Oil Terminal received its first cargo of light distillates and will get an initial crude delivery this month, its commercial manager Malek Azizeh said on Thursday.
According to the official, the facility loaded cargo of about 45,000 metric tonnes of light distillates on Wednesday, which equates to about 60,000 cubic metres of storage volume.
The start of operations makes the terminal the first storage facility in the Port of Fujairah with crude tanks available for lease, Azizeh added.
The Fujairah Oil Terminal has the capacity to store 1.18mn cubic metres of crude, fuel oil, gasoil and petrol. On a long-term basis, it aims to attract independent major and national oil companies.
The terminal is 50% owned by Sinopec Kantons Holdings, with the other half shared between Singapore-based Concorde Energy Group and the government of Fujairah. Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) has its own crude storage site in Fujairah.
“Fujairah makes sense geographically because it gives access to markets and cuts the distance for shipments,” Chris Gunson, an Abu Dhabi-based energy lawyer at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, told Bloomberg.
“There’s more potential for growth as storage capacity gives traders more flexibility.”
Some of the services provided at the terminal include loading and discharge of partially laden very large crude carriers (VLCCs) for crude oil and refined products, blending of crude oil, fuel oil and clean products, storage and supply of bunker fuel, inter and intra-tank transfer, etc.
The jetties at the port have the capacity to accommodate small barge vessels (3000 DWT) and large VLCC (300,000 DWT).
