Vopak Horizon Fujairah has completed the expansion of its crude storage operations in Fujairah, UAE, adding 478,000 cubic metres of additional capacity.

The project, which is the seventh expansion phase of the terminal, brings the company’s total capacity to 2.6 million cubic metres.

The new capacity is the only oil storage facility in the Middle East for independent storage use that has open access and very large crude carrier (VLCC) access.

The expansion includes five storage tanks, one manifold and a pipeline connection to the VLCC jetty – which was opened in September 2016 – as well as to other jetties in the Port of Fujairah. All crude handled in the new tanks will be loaded and discharged through the jetties of the Port of Fujairah.

Vopak Horizon Fujairah is a joint venture between Netherlands-based Royal Vopak (33.3 per cent), UAE-based Horizon Terminals Ltd (33.3 per cent), the government of Fujairah (22.2 per cent) and Kuwait’s Independent Petroleum Group (11.1 per cent).

MEED reported in May 2014 that the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the terminal was awarded to Singapore-based Audex.