Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 18 /Trend A.Badalova/
The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) plans to establish a firm foothold in the growing Fujairah bunker market during the first half of 2012, by securing a bunker licence and bunker barges, Platts reported with the reference to a source close to the matter.
According to a source, Socar Aurora Fujairah Terminal, which is being constructed by SOCAR Trading - subsidiary of SOCAR - will begin operations sometime between February and March.
In May 2010 SOCAR and Aurora Progress Trade House, which is based in Switzerland, reached an agreement on cooperation in the development of oil storage facilities, including providing a terminal for the storage of petroleum products.
SOCAR Trading has already invested in the construction of a 645,000 m3 terminal in Fujairah, via SOCAR Aurora. The Fujairah Terminal consists of 20 tanks and has the capacity for handling gasoline, naphtha, middle distillates and other petroleum products.
Earlier it was reported that Socar Aurora Fujairah Terminal, which is a joint venture of SOCAR, Aurora Progress SA, and the Government of Fujairah, completed Phase 1 of terminal in UAE and the commercial operation of three tanks, consisting of 115,000 cubic meters capacity, will begin on 30 January.
Phase 2 of the terminal, which is expected to take around 15 months, will up the storage capacity to 350,000 m3 with an additional nine tanks.
Phase three will begin once customer demand has been secured.