The UAE’s Brooge Petroleum and Gas Investment Co (BPGIC) announced in a statement published on Zawya on October 10, 2019, that it plans to boost the crude oil storage capacity and expand refining facilities after managing to lease additional land in the bunkering hub of Fujairah.

BPGIC said that it estimates to add storage and services capacity of 3.5 million cubic meters (mcm), in addition to the existing storage capacity of 1 mcm across about 22 tanks for crude and oil products.

The company asserted its aim to start construction of the new facilities later in 2019, noting that it was in talks with international oil firms to lease part of its planned crude storage capacity.

In September, BPGIC awarded a contract to Spain’s SENER engineering group to build an oil refinery in Fujairah.

The plant will produce bunker fuel that complies with new international laws capping sulfur content in shipping fuels, as the first phase of the planned 250,000-barrels-per-day (b/d) refinery will be completed in the first quarter of 2020.