Netherlands-based commodities trader Trafigura is due to approach banks in the first quarter of the year to raise about $100m to finance the development of an oil storage facility at Jebel Ali in the UAE.

According to sources close to the deal, the UK’s Standard Chartered has been appointed to arrange the financing and will start approaching banks in February or March.

The fund is expected to be financed by a small group of banks, including mainly international lenders as the deal will be carried out in dollars rather than dirhams. It will be structured as a project finance facility, with a tenor of under 20 years. One banker with knowledge of the deal said it would priced “to be attractive to international banks”.

Trafigura already has an investment in the Emoil Petroleum Storage facility at Jebel Ali, which is a joint venture of the local Emarat, the UK’s BP and Trafigura. That was the firm’s first investment in the UAE, which has storage facilities around the world for its commodities trading.

Trafigura holds 20 per cent in the Emoil project, which cost $32m to develop in 2006. The Emoil facility supplies aviation fuel and acts as a blending and storage hub for Emarat.