March 16, 2011 [Zawya Dow Jones] - The UAE plans to double fuel oil storage facilities by 2012 at Fujairah, combining with a new crude pipeline to create an alternative energy export hub outside the Strait of Hormuz.
“At present there are 121 storage tanks representing approximately 3 million cubic metres of storage,” said Mohammad Saeed Al Kindi, managing director of Fujairah Petroleum Products at a conference on Tuesday.
“By the end of 2012 we expect this to increase through private investment to 262 tanks, representing a total storage capacity of over 7 million barrels.”
The new crude pipeline is due to be completed later this year with a capacity of up to 1.8 million barrels a day, equivalent to as much as 70 per cent of the UAE’s total oil exports. The UAE, a member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, presently pumps about 2.3 million barrels a day of crude.
