March 7, 2011 [Reuters] - Oil storage tank operator Vopak said all of its tanks in Fujairah are currently leased.Oil storage tank operator Vopak said all of its tanks in Fujairah are currently leased.
“We’re fully occupied,” an official at Vopak, the world’s largest independent storage tank operator, said yesterday, requesting anonymity.
“All tanks are storing oil products,” he said.
Dutch-based Vopak has 48 tanks in Fujairah, one of the world’s three largest bunkering ports along with Singapore and Rotterdam, with a capacity totalling 1.5 million cubic metres.
Vopak said another 600,000 cubic metres of storage, now under construction, is set to come on stream by the end-2011 and has already been leased out.
The new tanks are leased to BP, ConocoPhillips and Litasco, Russian oil company Lukoil’s trading arm, two trade sources said.
Fujairah port has a total storage capacity of around 3 million cubic metres and is located on the east coast of the UAE.
The port’s storage capacity is rising quickly.
Others adding capacity include Singapore-listed Chemoil, with plans to boost capacity to 675,000 cubic metres from a current 90,000 cubic metres.
Vitol, the world’s largest oil trading firm, has over 1 million cubic metres of Fujairah port storage capacity through its joint venture VTTI.
