Fujairah fuels up to expand oil hub

The world’s second-largest pit-stop venue for international shipping will more than double in size in three years as Fujairah, situated on the Eastern Seaboard of the United Arab Emirates, undergoes a transformation into an oil hub to rival Singapore and Rotterdam. Salem Khalil, technical adviser to the government of Fujairah, said foreign companies would build an additional 4.2 million cubic meters (cu m) of fuel storage facilities, up from 3.1 million cu m today, along
the Fujairah coast by the end of 2012, representing hundreds of millions of dollars in investment. This would add 140 new fuel tanks to the 120 clustered on the shore. Siavash Alishahpour, general manager of the Fujairah Refining Co., a joint-venture between the government and Vitol, a Swiss oil trading company, said “The oil terminals and storage growth during the last five years in Fujairah is showing the importance of it as a trans-shipment and balancing hub.” (April 5, 2010)