Page 15 - DMEA Week 43 2020

DMEA REFINING DMEA

Brooge starts ground work for

storage expansion

UAE UAE storage developer Brooge Energy has begun The company’s Phase-1 and Phase-2 facilities
preconstruction work on a phase-3 expansion at are fully contracted on a multi-year basis, and it
The project will its storage and terminal hub in Fujairah. has said before that it will not commit fully to
potentially include a The work underway includes a soil investiga- Phase 3 until those planned units are fully con-
18,000 bpd refinery. tion and the environmental impact assessment tracted as well.
(EIA) report. Brooge hired MUC Oil & Gas Finding clients is unlikely to present much of
Engineering Consultancy to carry out technical a problem, given global storage levels have risen
studies on the expansion plan in April. Under to unprecedented highs this year owing to the
that contract, MUC will design 2.1-3.5mn cubic destruction to demand caused by coronavirus
metres (13.2-22.0mn barrels) of storage space for (COVID-19) lockdowns. Uncertainty about
crude oil and refined fuels, as well as a potential how long it will take to get the pandemic under
18,000 barrel per day (bpd) oil refinery. control and geopolitical instability mean it could
The expansion will position Brooge as the take years for storage levels to slide back to pre-
largest oil storage operator in Fujairah, which COVID-19 levels.
has grown into a major storage site over the years Phase-3 is due to be operational in late 2022,
thanks to its strategic location outside the Strait Brooge has said before. While the company does
of Hormuz. Iran has repeatedly threatened to not disclose which clients use its existing storage,
block the narrow and congested waterway. Reuters reported in May that France’s Total had
Brooge began hydrotests in August at its leased six storage tanks for six months and might
Phase-2 oil facilities, which will expand its stor- extend the contract for a further six months.
age capacity in Fujairah from 1mn cubic metres Beside storage, Fujairah is also among the
(6.3mn barrels), from the current 2.5mn barrels. world’s largest hubs for bunkering. ™

PETROCHEMICALS

Explosion occurs at Iranian

petrochemicals complex

IRAN AN explosion occurred at a petrochemicals plant Tehran refinery, although the incident was not
in south-western Iran on October 23, according thought to have affected production. Another
Iran has been plagued to local reports, but the resulting blaze was extin- fire broke out at an Iranian power station on
by a series of explosions guished within hours. July 4, while chlorine gas leaked out at a petro-
at energy and military Bandar Imam Petrochemical was quoted as chemical plant on the same day. A week later
facilites in recent saying by the ISNA news agency that the compa- there was an explosion in early July at a petro-
months. ny’s own firefighters and regional fire teams had chemicals plant in the south-west belonging to
put out the fire before it could spread from the Shahid Tondgooyan Petrochemical, although
plant’s aromatics unit. One worker was mildly authorities said it did not lead to any casualties
injured, according to the company. or financial damage.
As of press time, it is unclear whether the fire An explosion in July at Iran’s Natanz nuclear
had affected production at the petrochemicals facility was later attributed to “sabotage” by Iran’s
complex, one of Iran’s biggest and which exports Atomic Energy Organisation.
over 1mn tonnes per year (tpy) of products. This series of incidents have come as Iran’s
A number of fires and explosions have been government targets a significant expansion in
reported across the country in recent months, the country’s petrochemicals output. Iranian Oil
mostly at energy and military facilities. Some Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said in July
have been linked to the deterioration of Ira- that as many as 17 petrochemical investments
nian infrastructure, while others appear to be were due to be up and running by March 2021,
security-related. with a combined production capacity of 25mn
In early June, a fire was caused by a gaso- tpy. Their completion will bring national output
line link at the 220,000 barrel per day (bpd) to 90mn tpy, the minister said. ™

Week 43 29•October•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P15