Sinopec to extend global storage capacity within seven years

The storage arm of Asian oil and gas company Sinopec plans to double its storage capacity outside China by 2020, according to reports.

It is believed Sinopec Kantons Holdings (SKH) wants to extend its capacity into Africa and both North and South America, doubling the 5 million m3 due in 2016.

SKH chief commercial director Xu Ruiqing was quoted as saying West Africa is ‘a big producer and exporter of crude but has no major oil terminals’, while areas between the Americas could provide ‘strategic locations close to key exporters like Brazil and Argentina’.

The company is currently in the process of constructing a number of terminals in Asia and the UAE, a location it sees as having future potential for crude oil and trading volumes to increase.

A 2.6 million m3 storage terminal in Indonesia's Batam free-trade zone is in the design and pre-engineering phase and is expected to become operational by mid-2016. It will store 1.8 million m3 of crude oil and fuel oil and 730,000m3 of diesel, petrol and jet fuel.

Another terminal in Fujairah, UAE, is under construction in a joint venture with Concord Energy and a local partner, with a storage capacity of 1.15 million m3. It is expected to be operational by November 2014 and able to store 580,000m3 of crude oil and fuel oil and 575,000m3 of fuel oil, gasoil, petrol, naphtha and jet fuel.