Aramco has started bunkering operations at the King Fahad Industrial Port at the Red Sea coast with the Saudi Energy Ministry, as well as the customs and ports authorities.
Aramco Trading Company (ATC), a subsidiary of Saudi Aramco, has started commercial bunkering operations at the King Fahad Industrial Port in Yanbu on the kingdom’s Red Sea coast.
ATC, which trades in refined oil products and blending components, began bunkering operations on the kingdom’s western coast in collaboration with the Saudi Energy Ministry, the customs authority and the ports authority, it said in a statement.
The Yanbu port is located south-east of the Suez Canal, which is a critical chokepoint in the transport and sale of seaborne crude.
ATC has commissioned ‘MT Halki’, a 6,000-deadweight tonnage barge equipped with mass flowmeters, which measure the volume of product dispensed from the carrier.
The vessel’s first delivery was for 1,600 metric tonnes (Mt) of very low sulphur fuel oil to ‘MT Lake Trout’.
“ATC intends to offer a world-class bunker supply service, adopting industry best practices to ensure a safe, reliable and competitive package to shipowners in one of the world’s busiest sea routes,” said Ibrahim al-Buainain, CEO of ATC.
The storage and blending facilities maintained by ATC at Yanbu have the capacity to meet up to 150,000Mt of bunkering needs on a monthly basis.
The company has the potential to increase that if needed, it added.
