New large-scale oil storage terminal opens

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Gulf Petrochem Group, a leading Sharjah-based conglomerate with a business unit specialised in petrochemical trading, storage and transportation, has opened it’s new 203,888 cubic metres (cbm) liquid storage terminal at Hamriyah Free Zone.

The new storage terminal, which will become fully operational this month, will be able to store all classes of petroleum products such as fuel oil, gas oil, base oil, bitumen and naptha. The facility consists of 37 tanks ranging from 1,7000 up to 11,200 cbm in capacity, with separate pipelines for white and black products.

Gulf Petrochem Group’s US$2.5 billion (AED 0.68b) business incliudes oil trading and bunkering, oil refining, grease manufacturing, oil storage terminals, bitumen manufacturing, shipping and logistics. The group was first established in 1998 with the commissioning of an oil refinery in the free zone and now has a presence in South Asia, the Far East Asia, Africa and Europe.

The new Hamriyah storage terminal, compliments the company’s existing facilities in Fujairah, on the UAE’s east coast and in Pipavav, on India’s west coast. Gulf Petrochem also has plans to open additional terminals in east Africa, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, and has reportedly already allocated $25-30 million to acquire new terminals in East Africa.

Hamriyah Free Zone’s access to the adjacent Hamriyah’s 14 meter deep water port and 7 meter deep inner harbor, plus its strategic location in the region, has made the zone popular with petrochemical traders. Hamriyah Free Zone has created an Oil & Gas Zone and a Petrochemical Zone to attract more investment from the sector.

Earlier this year, ATS, a UAE based logistics company, expanded the capacity of its liquid storage terminal at Hamriyah from 22,000 cubic meters to a 12 tank facility with a capacity of 42,000 cubic meters. ATS also has plans for further expansion to increase storage capacity to 60,000 cbm in 2016, with another expansion phase scheduled for 2017.

Meanwhile, a subsidiary of Indian conglomerate Veritas (India) Limited (VIL) began construction of a US$ 126.45 million (AED 464.5m) liquid and solid cargo handling terminal at Hamriyah Free Zone in 2014, with 30 storage tanks with a total capacity of 180,000 cbm.

Hamriyah Free Zone houses over 6,100 companies from 157 countries, welcomes foreign investment from more than 500 industries in the key sectors of oil and gas, petrochemicals, maritime, steel, construction and food.

Sources: Gulf Petrochem, media, HFZA