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The two companies collaborating in the development of an oil terminal in the port of Fujairah are said to be considering including a third investor in the project.

Vagif Aliyev, the head of investment at the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) is reported to have claimed that the involvement of a third investor in its joint project with Swiss trading house Aurora Progress Group is currently under consideration. The unnamed firm is understood to be a local company based in Abu Dhabi.

The news follows the announcement in May 2010 that SOCAR had entered into an agreement with Aurora Progress to jointly develop oil storage facilities, including a new oil terminal, in Fujairah, the region's leading bunker port.

The facility, set to be named Aurora Fujairah Terminal, is expected to have a total storage capacity of 644,000 cubic meters across 20 tanks and will be used for the storage, blending, and resupply of fuel oils, gasolines, naphthas and middle distillates (diesel, gasoil & jet kerosene).

Both companies said in May that the terminal would be managed by a joint company named SOCAR Aurora, which would offer storage capacity to third parties.

The first phase of the terminal is expected to be operational by 2011.

The Port of Fujairah is commissioning this year a new multi berth facility for the receipt and loading of oil tankers. The SOCAR Aurora terminal will be one of the first to make use of this new vessel handling capacity at the Middle East energy hub.

Aurora announced the start of civil works on the terminal earlier this year after signing agreements with the Municipality of Fujairah and the Port of Fujairah.

Commenting on the project in February, Aurora's Trading Director Ammar Kutait said: "There is a lot of demand for storage in the region and with our new state of the art terminal and flexible berthing facilities in the port we can offer our customers a first rate service in this growth market."