Private Emirati firm Brooge Energy has again delayed start-up of its Phase II storage facilities at Fujairah, which is operated by its BPGIC subsidiary. In a 21 December letter to shareholders, CEO Nicolass Paardenkooper said “we are now working hard to have the construction of the storage facility completed by the end of Q1 2021 and for the facility to operate at, or near, full capacity by the end of Q2 2021. Phase II is fully contracted, and the signed agreements with customers are not impacted by the launch delay.”
The firm attributes the delay to renewed Covid-restrictions, saying “we received a confirmation that with the second wave of the pandemic our contractors have experienced supply chain disruptions.” Only a few weeks ago the firm was hoping for operations to begin in early-2021 (MEES, 4 December). The firm’s plans to have a 25,000 b/d modular refinery up and running in Fujairah by the end of 2021 likewise look optimistic (MEES, 24 December).
Upon completion, Phase II will boost Brooge Energy’s storage capacity at Fujairah from 400,000m³ (2.5mn barrels) to 1mn m³ (6.3mn barrels).
Most of the Phase I capacity is contracted to Al Brooge International Advisory (BIA), which then subleases the facilities. In May, 129,000m³ was released back to BPGIC and leased to Total’s trading subsidiary Totsa for a six-month period. When that expired, the capacity leased to “three regional oil trading companies” at a 50% premium to the BIA contract. This week 104,074 m³ was leased to “two regional oil trading companies” at a 60% premium.