Saudi Aramco Confirms Leasing UAE Fuel Storage Space

Saudi Aramco has leased fuel storage space at the United Arab Emirates (UAE) port of Fujairah to support its global trading operations, the state energy giant said, confirming an earlier Reuters report.

Reuters reported last week that Aramco Trading had leased at least 1 million barrels of storage for gasoline at the Vopak Horizon terminal on the east coast of the UAE.

“Aramco Trading will use the fuel storage facility to optimize its trading portfolio as parent Saudi Aramco’s downstream investment portfolio expands in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and overseas,” the company said in an emailed statement.

Securing storage space at the key fuel hub outside the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has threatened to block several times, helps traders ensure swift and flexible supplies to buyers, particularly in Asia.

Saudi Arabia plans to increase its refining capacity by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2017 to reduce its own growing fuel import bill and sell more profitable oil products.