Port Qasim: Fotco, Trans Group pumping $25m for oil storage facility

Would have capacity of 100,000 tons and will be set up by March 2018

KARACHI: Fauji Oil Terminal and Distribution Company (Fotco) and Trans Group are investing $25 million to set up a new oil storage facility of 100,000 tons at Port Qasim by March 2018, said company officials Friday.

In the second phase, the storage capacity may be enhanced up to 280,000 tons for which basic infrastructure would have been developed in the just initiated phase-I.

“The work to be left for the second phase would be construction of more storage tanks only and nothing else. Right now, we are constructing six tanks,” said Fotco Chief Operating Officer Hasan Sobuctageen on the sidelines of the ground breaking ceremony for the project at the port.

The new oil storage capacity has been named Fauji Trans Terminal Limited (FTTL), which is a joined venture between the two companies.

Officials of the joint venture, however, denied sharing the estimated cost and timeline for phase-II of the project.

“The addition of storage capacity has been felt for quite a long time now … the import of gasoline has been increased by 40% in the last four years,” Sobuctageen said while addressing at the ceremony.

He said that the issue of vessels waiting in queue for their term and incurring high amounts of demurrages was at its peak.

Just recently, MT AL SALAM II waited for 37 days to get berthed due to a lack of oil storage capacity at the port. The ship was carrying 50,000 tons gas oil for Pakistan State Oil, he added.

The terminal will be fully integrated with the Fotco oil jetty and will also include buffer storage for motor gasoline, diesel and fuel oil to achieve the maximum discharge rates ensuring the quickest turnaround time for oil tankers calling at Port Qasim.

Currently average discharging rates achieved by vessels calling at Karachi are 1,500 tons per hour, which has resulted in long waiting times for berthing of oil tankers resulting in high demurrage costs being incurred by importers.

FTTL is set to resolve this problem with its ability to achieve higher discharge rates of up to 5,000 tons per hour meaning oil tankers will only require one-third of the time to discharge a given parcel of cargo.

Fauji Foundation Managing Director Khalid Nawaz Khan said that the new oil storage tanks were beings directly integrated with the marine oil terminal of Fotco. This will result in improved operational efficiency and capacity utilisation of both the terminal and the storage.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 8^th, 2016.

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