Aramco Trading Company has opened its second international office after Singapore, in Fujairah with Abdulaziz M. Al-Judaimi, firm’s chairman and head of Saudi Aramco Downstream, and CEO Ibrahim Al-Buainain in attendance
The wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi Aramco, one of the world’s largest oil company by crude oil production, opened the office in the UAE Emirate of Fujairah as part of a global push into new markets to secure buyers for refined products as well as crude.
The new facility, Aramco Trading Fujairah (ATF), will handle all Aramco Trading gasoline and fuel oil storage and blending activities. The opening ceremony was also attended by local dignitaries, including Sharief Habib Al Awadhi, director general of the Fujairah Free Zone, Mousa Morad, managing director of the Port of Fujairah, and Salem Abdullah Al Hamoudi, director of the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone (FOIZ)
Abdulaziz M. Al-Judaimi said, “We have been in Fujairah for a number of years and as our trading business expands globally – between Singapore, Saudi Arabia, London, Houston – we trade across different time zones, and Fujairah as the centre of our blending operations, we thought it is important to be here, physically doing trading as a business in Fujairah.”
“We are very happy with the relationships here, be it with our clients, our suppliers and the government – they have been very open and have welcomed us to be here for many years,” the chairman added.
Ibrahim Al-Buainain commented, “Aramco Trading has experienced significant growth in recent years. We started in 2012 with 600,000 to 700,000 bpd and now we’re operating at more than four million bpd – and as the downstream business grows to the level that we want to reach 8-10mn bpd – Aramco Trading will grow together with that business.”
“At Fujairah, we have a growing business that started with 100,000 bpd and now we have 350,000 bpd between gasoline and fuel oil. So, for this reason, Fujairah would be the optimum location that is close to our assets close to the free zone,” the CEO concluded.
