JEDDAH: Saudi Aramco has leased fuel storage space at the UAE port of Fujairah to support its global trading operations, the energy giant said, confirming an earlier Reuters report.
Reuters reported recently that Aramco Trading had leased at least 1 million barrels of storage for gasoline at the Vopak Horizon terminal on the east coast of the UAE.
“Aramco Trading will use the fuel storage facility to optimize its trading portfolio as parent Saudi Aramcoís downstream investment portfolio expands in the Kingdom and overseas,” the company said in an e-mailed statement.
Securing storage space at the key fuel hub outside the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has threatened to block several times, helps traders ensure swift and flexible supplies to buyers, particularly in Asia.
Saudi Arabia plans to increase its refining capacity by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2017 to reduce its own growing fuel import bill and sell more profitable oil products.
Aramco to lease UAE fuel storage space
