UAE’s Brooge Petroleum plans refinery in Fujairah

UAE terminal operator Brooge Petroleum and Gas Investment Company plans to build a 250,000 barrel-perday refinery in Fujairah to produce bunker fuel.

The emirate is one of the world’s largest bunkering hubs, with bunker fuel used to power vessels docking at the Port of Fujairah.

The first phase of the refinery is planned to be complete by the first quarter of 2020, said Nicolaas Paardenkooper, the company’s chief executive, according to state media agency Wam.

The company will comply with International Maritime Organisation 2020 regulations to cap sulphur content in bunker fuel, he added.

The UAE, which accounts for about 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, a total expected to rise with the entry of operators such as Brooge.

Brooge listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange in April as it looks to tap into new opportunities, including in Africa. Mr Paardenkooper said that it planned to add 600,000 cubic metres of storage capacity to its existing almost 400,000 cubic metres during the next phase of expansion, which is set to complete by the second quarter of 2020.