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Leading energy trading company Vitol is set to complete its new 560,000-cubic-metre clean petroleum storage facility in the port of Fujairah by mid-2009, a senior company official revealed yesterday.

The facility forms part of Vitol's $150 million incremental investment programme, where the company plans expand and revamp its assets in Fujairah in order to create a world-class port facility, according to Vitol Dubai's managing director, Chris Bake.

"The investment includes money we are spending on new tanks, jetty-related infrastructure and revamping our refinery assets," Bake told Reuters in an interview.

Vitol currently owns 10 percent of the Vopak Horizon Fujairah Limited terminal, which is strategically located outside the Straits of Hormuz. Officially opened in 1999, Vitol has continued to invest along with its joint venture partners to boost storage capacity to approximately 1,100,000m3.

The terminal incorporates a trestle-type jetty extending more than 1.5km into the sea, providing a draft of 18m, as well as a SPM capable of handling Suezmax ships.

Last year, Vitol also acquired majority stake in the Fujairah Refinery Company Limited. The terminal operates 466,000 cubic metres, mostly in fuel oil and gas oil, but has the capability to process a variety of crudes.

The refinery had been mothballed since 2003, but following maintenance work the 82,000 barrels per day refinery was restarted in December and is currently operating at approximately 30,000 barrels per day.

"This is for simple distillation and flashing use, it is being used primarily to support our fuel oil business both regionally and for export to Asia," Bake said.

Vitol has been increasing its share of the marine fuels market, forming new partnerships directly with fleet owners. It has recently acquired bunker supply vessels in order to have greater control over its bunker fuel deliveries to vessel owners. Last year it acquired three bunkering vessels to specifically serve the Fujairah bunker market.

Vitol could also use its base in Fujairah to compete for fuel oil contracts in Pakistan. Oil marketing firm Pakistan State Oil (PSO) is a regular purchaser of fuel oil from the Middle East, buying from Sharjah-based FAL Oil and Saudi oil trader and bunker supplier Bakri International Energy Co. Ltd..

Last month alone, PSO bought 13 65,000-tonne cargoes of fuel oil and issued a further tender for 450,000 tonnes of low sulphur fuel oil for delivery between the months of November 2008 and February 2009.

In October, Vitol Group also announced the signing of an agreement with Seaport World Wide Sdn Bhd under which Vitol will lease land to construct an oil terminal in Tanjung Bin, Malaysia.

The terminal will be used for blending and storage of petroleum, crude oil and petrochemical products and will have initial capacity of 750,000 cubic metres. Vitol is also said to be interested in expanding the terminal capacity to 1.2 million cubic metres in future.

Vitol’s current portfolio also includes storage assets in Latvia, The Netherlands, Russia and Argentina,together with projects nearing completion in Nigeria and the United States.