June 06, 2012 [Market Watch] - SOCAR AURORA Fujairah Terminal FZC (SAFT), the joint venture company between SOCAR, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic, AURORA Progress, the Swiss-based commodity trading house, and the Government of Fujairah today announced the start of construction of the second phase of the 645,000 cubic metre oil products terminal in Fujairah.
This phase adds 235,000 cubic metres to the tanks already in operation and has been funded with $61 million from APICORP and National Bank of Fujairah. APICORP is the lead bank providing in total $110 million of funding to construct both the second and third phases of the SOCAR AURORA Fujairah terminal.
Ammar Kutait, CEO of SAFT, commented, “We have now signed the construction contracts for the 10 tanks involved in Phase 2 of the terminal. Fujairah National Construction & Transportation (FNCT) is doing all the civil works on the site, Belleli Energy is constructing the tanks and pipelines and Consilium Middle East is providing all the electrical, instrumentation and fire fighting equipment.
SOCAR Trading CFO and Board Member of SAFT, Zaur Gahramanov, said: “The first phase of the SOCAR AURORA Fujairah Terminal has been completed as planned and received the first oil products into the tanks in March. This next phase will be fully operational by the fourth quarter of next year.”
“The first two phases of the terminal are already fully let,” added Ammar Kutait, “our priority now is to deliver the second phase again on time and within budget and, after the successful completion of Phase 1, we will again be employing MUC Oil & Gas to project manage the development of the second phase.
With funding already secured with APICORP for Phase 3 we can progress discussions with interested parties on this remaining 295,000 cubic metres of tankage. We will be tendering shortly for the construction contracts and will be seeking expressions of interest from potential contractors.”
