UAE’s Brooge Petroleum eyes acquisitions amid IPO plans

UAE-based terminal operator Brooge Petroleum and Gas Investment Company wants to acquire operators of similar scale and size even as it plans to float 40 per cent of its shares in an international listing, its chief executive said.

“We’re looking at every possibility. If you’re in this kind of industry there are not too many companies. There are some opportunities in the east and the west and some opportunities in Africa,” Nicolaas Paardenkooper said in Fujairah, during a ceremony marking the start of the operator’s phase two expansion.

The UAE, which accounts for around 4.2 per cent of global oil production, is a major player in the crude storage industry through hubs such as Fujairah, which is the world’s second largest bunkering port behind Singapore. Fujairah has the capacity to handle as much as 60 million barrels of crude and oil products and this is expected to increase with the entry of players such as Brooge Petroleum.

The UAE company, which has a capacity of nearly 400,000 cubic metres of storage for petroleum products, middle distillates and fuel oil, is looking to add up to 600,000 cubic metres of additional capacity, particularly for oil.

“We’re starting construction, with a completion time of 18 months and we’re aiming for operation by Q2 2020,” said Mr Paardenkooper. The company inaugurated phase one last year.

He said plans were also being considered for further phases at the terminal, however the firm’s initial public offering exercise was not intended to fuel this expansion.