Western Desert Operating Petroleum Company (WEPCO) has inked a deal with the Engineering for the Petroleum and Process Industries (Enppi) and Petrojet to establish two warehouses for storing crude oil at Al-Hamra Petroleum Port with investments worth $64 million, according to a statement.

Warehouses 7 and 8 will be used to store crude oil produced by companies operating in the Western Desert. Petrojet and Enppi are currently working on the project with an estimated value of about $32 million per warehouse. The goal is to increase the total capacity of the Al-Hamra Petroleum Port from 1.5 million barrels (mmbbl) to 2.6 mmbbl.

Per the statement, the project aligns with the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources’ plan to turn Egypt to a regional energy hub as the port trades about 50% of crude oil production in Egypt. WEPCO has chosen the fast track approach to establish warehouse 8, in which the company is creating its foundation work in parallel with its engineering one.

It should be noted that WEPCO has recently succeeded in operating the new 8-kilometers (km) marine pipeline project in Al-Alamein. In addition to the warehouses, these projects are key for developing the facilities of the Al-Hamra Petroleum Port.