Work on phase one of a $30 million bulk liquid storage terminal at the Djibouti port of Doraleh, has been started by Emirates National Oil (ENOC) and Dubai Ports International (DPI).
"The new oil jetty will accommodate oil products, LPG, edible oils and bitumen on vessels of up to 120,000 DWT in 14 meters of water. Construction on the new oil jetty will commence by September 2003 and it will be ready for operation by September 2004," said United Arab Emirates (UAE) senior government official Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem.
In addition to the oil terminal, Bin Sulayem announced that Dubai Ports will commission a study to design a 2,000 meter long $300 million mega container port and free zone at Doraleh. Haskoning Nederland BV of Rotterdam has been appointed to provide designs for both the jetty and container terminal.
"Dubai Ports currently operates and manages the Seaport, Airport, and Dryport in Djibouti. The new oil terminal, container terminal and free zone will enable the Port of Djibouti to meet the growing cargo handling requirements for the next 20 years as well as provide additional value added services to shipping lines, importers and exporters serving East Africa," concluded Bin Sulayem.
ENOC's bulk liquid storage terminal is the first independent project to be commissioned at the new port's free zone. The setting up of a subsidiary, Horizon Djibouti Terminals (HDTL) will operate the tank farm.
The terminal will cover nine hectares. Reserve land of 7.5 hectares is kept for further expansion. In phase one, HDTL will have a capacity to store and handle 100,000 cubic metres of petroleum products, 6,000 cubic meters of chemical and vegetable oils and 1,200 metric tons of liquid petroleum gases. It will also have blending, homogenisation, heating and additives capabilities.
ENOC recently set up a LPG bottling plant in Djibouti in a record period of six months. This LPG plant will be relocated to the HDTL facility in the second phase, which will also witness the addition of drumming facilities, apart from more tanks to handle a wider variety of products.
The HDTL operation will come under the recently announced ENOC subsidiary, Horizon Terminals Limited (HTL), which will consolidate ENOC's terminaling business and expand it throughout Middle East and Europe. It aims to become a global player in the oil and gas, chemicals and vegetable oils storage business within five years. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
