JEDDAH, 28 August — Prince Abdullah, the regent, inspected the strategic petroleum storage facilities yesterday after inaugurating the multibillion-riyal project located on the Old Makkah Road.
The prince pressed a button to mark the opening of the project, one of the five such facilities established by the government at a total cost of SR11 billion ($2.9 billion). Other storage projects are located in Riyadh, Abha, Madinah and Qassim.
Prince Abdullah, accompanied by Prince Sultan, second deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, other princes and officials, toured the underground facilities including the main control room and storage tanks.
Prince Abdullah and his entourage stood at the 400-meter- long storage, which can stockpile 945,000 barrels of petroleum. A whole city has been built about 190 meters underground, using the latest technology.
Earlier on arrival at the facility, Prince Abdullah was received by Prince Sultan, who is chairman of the strategic storage project, Ali Al-Hudaithy, consultant and supervisor of the project, and Abdullah Al-Rasheed, director general of the project.
He also met with officials of the Swedish company which built the project.
"Laboratory tests conducted over the past six years have proved that the quality of petroleum products stored at the facilities does not change," Hudaithy told the gathering. He said about 5,000 Saudis were working on the project.
Each stockpiling facility is designed to store millions of barrels of petroleum and its products and can meet the Kingdom’s requirements for several months. Prince Abdullah opened the first storage facility in Alkharj, near Riyadh, on Feb. 23, 1999.
Senior officials who attended the function said the project could meet world demand for petroleum products at times of crisis. "During emergency situations, the project will meet the needs of the armed forces and major civilian sectors such as agriculture, industry and transport.
" At peace time, the project will supply petroleum products as part of Saudi Aramco’s distribution system," Hudaithy said.
About 700 kms of pipelines linking the warehouses with refineries and distribution centers have been constructed as part of the project, which was implemented after conducting detailed studies on the specifications of the warehouses and petroleum products. Samples of petroleum products were sent to a research institute in Texas to make sure they could be stored for a long period.
Abdullah ibn Saleh Juma, president and chief executive of Saudi Aramco, which manages the project, said the facility is run by Saudis.
Prince Abdullah watched a documentary film on the project and toured an exhibition, including a model of the project and photographs representing its different phases, facilities, utilities and services.
