UAE-based trading group Primestar Energy is preparing to award the main contract for a joint-venture oil storage terminal in the eastern emirate of Fujairah.

Primestar, along with India’s Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS), tendered the project in the first quarter of 2012 and received commercial engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) bids during May.

According to a source close to the bidding process, Italy’s Belleli Energy and Dubai-based ANC Contracting are among the contractors preparing to submit bids for the contract, estimated to be worth over $100m.

The project will have a storage capacity of 600,000 cubic metres, which is the equivalent of 3.77 million barrels of crude oil. Sharjah-based MUC Oil & Gas Engineering Consultancy is acting as the main consultant for the project.

Fujairah is in the process of a major expansion in oil and oil products storage capacity. The emirate is set to benefit from the Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline (Adcop) coming on stream later this year, as well as a major refinery project.