Topaz Engineering Secures $100 Million Contract from GPS Chemoil for Storage Terminal in Fujairah

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Topaz Engineering (Dubai, United Arab Emirates), a subsidiary of Topaz Energy and Marine (Dubai), has secured a $100 million engineering, procurement and construction contract for Phase IV of the oil storage terminal being developed by GPS Chemoil (Fujairah, United Arab Emirates), a subsidiary of the Fujiarah National Group (FNG) (Fujairah), at Fujairah. The contract has been awarded to NICO International Hydrospace (Fujairah), an affiliate of Topaz Engineering. As part of the contract, Topaz Engineering will undertake procurement, supply, installation and commissioning of tanks and other critical equipment. The company also will be responsible for the linking and commissioning of existing units at the Fujairah port with the oil terminal.

Upon completion, the capacity of GPS Chemoil's oil terminal at Fujairah will increase to 675,000 cubic meters from 95,000 cubic meters. After the expansion, the capacity of the Fujairah oil terminal will exceed the capacity of the company's Helios terminal in Singapore. The fully automated terminal also will have facilities for receiving, loading and shipping gas, fuel and distillates. The fuel will be received at shipping berths through eight loading and unloading pipelines.

In 2007, GPS and Chemoil signed a 60:40 joint venture agreement to build the oil storage terminal. Chemoil Group (Baar, Switzerland) is a leading global name in marine equipment supplies. While Phase I of the project commenced operations in January 2009, the entire project is likely to be commissioned in 2012.

Early this month, GPS Chemoil achieved financial closure for Phase IV of the oil terminal project. The company received a $90 million loan from banks in Singapore, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The total investment on the fourth phase is estimated to be about $130 million.

Topaz Engineering is expected to complete the engineering, procurement and construction contract in two years. In September, Topaz Engineering successfully completed a deck system of a mobile offshore production unit for Talisma Energy Norge AG (Stavanger, Norway). The company executed the project as a sub-contract from Single Buoy Moorings Incorporated (Marly, Switzerland). Topaz Engineering deployed 1,400 people over a two-year period to complete the engineering and construction of the topsides and hull of the mobile offshore production unit. The company, which recorded revenues of $448 million in 2009, employs 5,200 people worldwide.

Experts have observed that due to the economic downturn, construction activities of oil terminals in Fujairah have slumped. With construction and operations in other ports in the Middle East, bunker volumes in Fujairah also have dipped considerably. This could pose a big threat for the port in the Emirate state, which is presently the second-biggest bunker port globally. In comparison to the 1 million tons per month recorded in 2008, bunker volumes have dropped by nearly 40%. However, several companies, including Oil Marketing and Trading International LLC (Fujairah) and Gulf Petroleum Investment (Faiha, Kuwait), have proposed to increase oil storage capacities at Fujairah to 300,000 cubic meters and 710,000 cubic meters, respectively.

Fujairah, which is one of the seven Emirate states, is also the fifth-largest state in the United Arab Emirates. The state has a population of 130,000 people. The government of Fujairah is exploring opportunities in the energy sector to keep pace with economic development in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Recently, a state-of-the-art naval base was inaugurated in Fujairah, which is expected to ensure security and faster supplies of oil exports. Fujairah was selected because it is strategically located and has easy access to international markets.

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