UAE - Sharjah Terminals.

The neighbouring emirate of Sharjah has three terminals for the export of crude oil and gas liquids. The crude oil terminal at the offshore Mubarak field, operated by Crescent Petroleum Co. (CPC), consists of a single point mooring buoy (SBM) capable of loading tankers of up to 350,000 dwt. Baraka 1, an 82,000 dwt tanker permanently moored about 1,830 metres from the SBM, is used for crude oil storage. Another 86,000 dwt tanker, Mubaraka, has been installed at the field since October 1992 for crude oil storage.

The port of Sharjah has a 224-metre berth with a depth of 10.2 metres. It can serve oil tankers of up to 50,000 dwt.

The Hamriyah terminal is for the loading of propane and butane (LPG) produced by the Sharjah LPG Co. (see Downstream Trends) and condensates produced by BP Amoco/Arco. The condensates terminal consists of a jetty which can serve tankers of up to 83,000 dwt. Both the LPG and condensates are exported mainly to Japan.

Regional Logistics: Dubai's free zone at Jebel Ali provides good logistics for regional trade in oil products. The private UAE venture, Star Energy Corp., has a products terminal and storage facilities at the free zone expanding since the company started up in 1988.

The first of this kind to be built in the Gulf, Star's system is divided between stockholding of middle distillates and the blending of gasolines and jet fuel. The facilities are used by the oil majors and traders as a half-way station between the refiner and the consumer. The clients buy the products from GCC and/or Iranian refineries and lease Star's tankage space, either for blending or simple storage. Most of the products are then shipped to the Indian subcontinent, the Far East or Africa.

The third phase of Star's expansion, completed in late 1998, raised the storage capacity by 25% to 511,000 cubic metres. This consisted mainly of seven new cone-roof tanks, with additional internal floating roofs. Three of these have a capacity of 20,000 cubic metres each. The other four have a capacity of 10,000 cubic metres each. All the terminal control systems were upgraded.

The pump station manifolds were expanded to enable greater flexibility and the addition of dedicated pipelines. Because demand will continue to exceed its capacity, Star is preparing for the fourth and fifth phases. These will be built by 2001/2.

Dubai's Emirates Petroleum Products Co. (EPPCO), in which Caltex has a 40% stake, is marketing products in most of the UAE emirates. The Dubai government holds 60% in this company, which was established in 1980 and has since broken EGPC's oil distribution monopoly in the UAE.

EPPCO has a pipeline, completed in late 1997, carrying jet fuel to Dubai's international airport. The 56 km pipeline runs from its expanded fuel processing facilities at the Jebel Ali free zone. It has a capacity of 40,000 b/d and has allowed EPPCO to stop using tankers shuttling daily on the highway.

(Dubai, the second biggest member of the UAE next to Abu Dhabi, has expanded its airport in view of a steady growth in traffic. It is currently the second busiest airport in the Middle East after Cairo. EPPCO is the sole supplier of aviation fuel at the Dubai airport).

Using locally produced MTBE as an additive for motor fuel, EPPCO's gasolines are of high quality. The company also markets more than 75 types of lubricants produced and supplied at the Jebel Ali free zone by a joint venture between BP Amoco/Arco and local interests.