RABAT (Reuters) – Morocco, a net energy importer, said on Friday a 3.2 million barrels new terminal for oil products will focus on imports and bunkering activity.
Located in the Tangier Mediterranean Port, the $180-million terminal will raise by a third Morocco’s storage capacity to cover 60 days of national needs, the Tangier Port Authority (TMSA) said in a statement.
“The terminal is strategically located at the entrance to the Mediterranean … Some 70,000 ships cross the Gibraltar Straits each year which gives the terminal a strategic position for bunkering operations and trading,” TMSA said.
“The terminal’s main activity is onshore and offshore bunkering … The mission is to supply fuel to vessels within the port limits as well as outside it,” it added.
The facility has dedicated 53 percent of the storage capacity to gasoline and diesel, 43 percent to fuel oil and the terminal to fuel additives, TMSA said.
The terminal will be competing with a similar facility in the Spanish exclave of Ceuta, surrounded by Morocco.
The terminal was developed under a 25-year concession from TMSA to Horizon Tangiers Terminals (HTT).
HTT was formed by UAE-based Horizon Terminals Ltd, Kuwaiti Independent Petroleum Group and the privately-owned SMDC, Morocco’s leading petrol station operator and a main owner of storage capacity of oil products.
Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc has been awarded a contract for bunkering operations at the terminal.
Morocco’s other terminal is located in Mohammedia, home to the country’s sole oil refiner Samir. (Reporting By Souhail Karam; editing by Keiron Henderson)
