United Arab Emirates’ Brooge Petroleum and Gas Investment Co (BPGIC) announced plans to increase capacity for crude storage to 3.5 million cubic metres and boost refinery operations after signing off an initial lease agreement for additional land in the port of Fujairah.
As part of its planned Phase III of the petrochemical project, BPGIC plans to also have some refinery facilities on the new land, connected to service deal with Sahara Energy Resources DMCC, Nasdaq-listed BPGIC said in a bourse statement.
BPGIC is developing terminals in phases and aims to have a total capacity of 1 million m3 following the scheduled completion of the second phase of construction by Q2 2020.
It expects that Phase III alone could add storage and services capacity of up to three and half (3.5) times, or up to 3.5 million m3, the size of BPGIC’s projected operations post-Phase II, which will be 1 million m3.
The final lease agreement may be executed before the end of the year, which would mean plans and construction can begin, BPGIC said, adding that some global end-users have shown interest in “securing portions of the capacity of a Phase III facility”.
The company said that if Phase III is completed successfully as planned, BPGIC would become the largest oil storage and services business in Fujairah, almost double that of its nearest competitor in the Port of Fujairah.
Nicolaas Paardenkooper, CEO of BPGIC commented, “We are very excited to be announcing our initial lease for significant land in the Port of Fujairah, which alone represents future capacity additions of over three and a half times our Phase I and Phase II facilities that are currently operating and under construction, respectively. After completion of Phase II in Q2 2020, we expect to be the second largest non-captive storage provider in Fujairah, and now with this Phase III land, we expect to be the largest storage provider, captive or non-captive, in Fujairah, at a time when the strategic importance of Fujairah within the region and globally is increasing significantly. We are committed to completing this merger with Twelve Seas and entering the U.S. capital markets. We recognize that the U.S. capital markets are the largest in the world and include sophisticated U.S. and global investors with large investments in similar public companies within our industry.”
Earlier this year, BPGIC listed its shares on the Nasdaq stock exchange after merging with U.S.-based firm Twelve Seas Investment Co. The move was part of the UAE-based oil storage company’s expansion strategy.
Following the closing of the business combination, BPGIC will continue to be led by its current management team of Nicolaas Paardenkooper, as Chief Executive Officer, Saleh Yammout, as Chief Financial Officer, Lina Saheb, as Chief Strategy Officer, and Faisal El Selim, as Chief Marketing Officer. BPGIC will remain headquartered in Fujairah, UAE.
