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Asian oil firm Petrochina is said to be poised to lease 5 million barrels of oil storage at Nustar Energy's 13 million barrel Statia Terminal on the island of St. Eustatius.

The news follows reports that Saudi Arabia will quit the 14-year, 5 million barrel lease it currently holds at the Caribbean oil storage facility.

The existing lease, regularly renewed by a Saudi Aramco subsidiary since 1995, formally ends on December 31st, according to market sources.

Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi recently revealed the world’s leading oil exporter has accepted an offer for free storage in Japan, which appeared to underscore the growing importance of China and Asia versus the United States.

PetroChina is said to be in negotiations to take the 5 million barrel space, although it is unclear whether it would mainly store crude oil or residual fuel, which is actively traded in the region. The current space is mostly used to store fuel oil, but could also be converted to store crude oil, traders said.

Petrochina already leases 1 million barrels of dirty storage capacity at the Statia Terminal, which is the largest fuel oil storage terminal in the Caribbean.

The facility is owned and operated by Nustar Energy - one of the largest independent liquid terminal operators in the world and the leading bunker supplier in St. Eustatius.

PetroChina is a regular purchaser of fuel oil and crude oil from Venezuela, mostly for delivery to Asia. The company also has a total of 2.5 million barrels of dirty and clean storage space at the Bahamas Oil Refining Company (BORCO) oil storage terminal - renamed Vopak Terminal Bahamas - in Freeport, Bahamas. The tanks are used to store fuel oil, jet fuel and gasoline.

The Chinese oil firm is said to typically load fuel oil onboard ocean-going tankers at the Statia Terminal, and both crude and fuel oil at Vopak Terminal Bahamas. For clean products, the company leases tank space on the Gulf Coast as well as in New York Harbor.

Market sources report that PetroChina may also have oil storage space of approximately 500,000 barrels in St. Lucia.