Aramco to boost loading capacity with reopened Muajjiz oil terminal
dhahran — State oil giant Saudi Aramco plans to launch its overhauled Muajjiz oil terminal on the Red Sea next year, lifting its total loading and export capacity to as much as 15 million barrels per day, Saudi officials said.
Located on the Red Sea, Muajjiz had been used as an export terminal for Iraqi crude through the Iraqi Pipeline in Saudi Arabia (IPSA).
Bringing Muajjiz terminal online next year would boost the kingdom’s total oil handling capacity to 15 million barrels per day (bpd) from 11.5 million bpd currently, Mohammed Al Qahtani, Aramco’s senior vice president for upstream, told Reuters in an interview at the company’s headquarters in Dhahran.
The additional capacity from Muajjiz, which will be integrated into the Yanbu crude oil terminal, will accommodate the increased volumes of fuel oil and supplies of Arabian Heavy crude oil to the Yasref, Jazan, and Jiddah local refineries.
The move will boost Aramco’s ability to meet its commitments to customers and maintain its export capability from the kingdom’s west coast.
“Restoring operations at Al Muajjiz will offer Saudi Aramco more flexibility in terms of its crude oil and product sales, and traffic configuration out of the Red Sea without affecting its intense operations out of the Arabian Gulf, which are largely dedicated to the Asian markets,” said Sadad AlHusseini, a former Aramco senior executive and now an energy consultant. — Reuters