Sharjah National Oil Corporation (SNOC) has announced the commissioning of an LPG blending and loading project in Sharjah’s Sajaa Complex
Shaikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, chairman of SNOC, emphasised that the step stems from the corporation’s keenness to meet the growing local demand for LPG and to implement relevant projects.
The new project was a result of a 2016 study, which confirmed the rising trend of LPG demand in the domestic market, as well as in the region.
According to Al Qasimi, SNOC has been producing the components of LPG (Propane and Butane) for export only, due to the attractive international markets. However, the rising local demand for LPG is presenting SNOC with an opportunity to diversify into the downstream business to blend and sell locally its production of Propane and Butane as an additional alternative to export.
Hatem Al-Mosa, CEO of SNOC, said, “The Sajaa LPG project is a crucial addition to SNOC’s product portfolio and will make Sharjah a key provider of LPG.”
He added, “This represents an important step in achieving our vision to capitalise on our existing assets to create new business through providing a secure and dependable energy supply to our domestic market.”
The commissioned phase of the project includes blending facilities, road tanker loading facilities and utilising existing storage capacity. The new infrastructure is designed to handle future expansion of the project. The project will be operated in a fully automated mode, with world-class technical and safety standards.
Since its establishment in 2010, SNOC has been actively involved in several ambitious development programmes covering exploration, LNG import and regasification, in addition to strategic gas storage infrastructure that will drive the corporation to a new era. The startup of LPG project opens the door to SNOC to further expand into a host of potential related projects, for which conceptual studies are already in progress.
