ENOC Group, the wholly-owned Dubai government entity, has reported a significant surge in the demand of storage ability across its terminals in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Morocco and also Djibouti.

The increased demand for bulk liquid storage space at its facilities is a result of the higher rate trajectory, as clients seek storage provision because of the weakening demand for oil following the Covid-19 outbreak.

With its completely owned subsidiary and also independent terminal, Horizon Terminals, ENOC Group owns as well as operates 6 terminals in the UAE and also 4 in various other global markets with a complete mixed storage space capability of 6.6 million cubic metres (m ) throughout 346 tanks. Out of this, 4.19 million m3 storage capability comes from 211 tanks in the UAE and 2.47 million m3 comes from 135 tanks outside the UAE.

His Excellency Saif Humaid Al Falasi, Group CEO, ENOC, said: "As an integrated energy player operating throughout the energy sector value chain, we focus on including substantial value to the business and also in helping address industry difficulties at critical times. To meet the expanding demand for oil storage, Horizon Terminals has additionally optimized capacity for chemical, petroleum as well as gas products across all its storage facilities."

With the advent of International Maritime (IMO) 2020 regulations cutting the allowable sulphur emissions from marine vessels from 3.5% to 0.5%, storage space demand for low-sulphur fuel oil (LSFO) is set to boost and also stay constant till completion of 2021. Horizon Terminals has planned for this drastic shift to LSFO by adopting strategies for possession optimisation, deploying Operational Excellence Management System (OEMS) for seamless procedures along with ensuring the greatest international Health and wellness, Safety, Environment as well as Environment procedures in the wake of the current situation.

"We are well-prepared to meet our mandate as well as give undisturbed fuel supply. Our robust supply chain and also terminalling infrastructure will satisfy the storage demands of our stakeholders. We have actually invested substantially in scaling up our storage space infrastructure in the past years and now we are distinctly positioned to satisfy the growing need for storage. With oil rates set to revive by mid-2021, need for storage space will certainly continue to be durable. Our objective is to be the largest independent terminal service provider for mass oil storage in the center East, Africa and also the Mediterranean, while maintaining a leading position in the Far East region," added Al Falasi.

Horizon Terminals has actually applied a number of stringent procedures to make certain business continuity, asset stability and also employee safety. These consist of the development as well as activation of a pandemic business continuity plan throughout all terminals, to keep critical business procedures. The plan consisted of guidelines on running critical features-- consisting of minimal manpower as well as back up sources, transporting items in between terminals, managing a standby fleet of tankers and also drivers to move products as required in between terminals in Jebel Ali as well as Fujairah, along with limiting ship-shore interaction, without endangering vessel safety and also operations.

Other precautionary steps to ensure the safety of employees on site included screening and also restriction of entry on terminals, placing circulation teams on weekly rotations, segregating office employees to work from home, in addition to offering all employees with continuous trainings on precautionary measures and also safety guidelines to avoid the spread of COVID-19.