A new refined oil products storage facility has opened with 650,000 barrel capacity in Central Saudi Arabia by Saudi Aramco.
The underground facility based in Qassim will help to cut operating costs and increase flexibility when scheduling refinery maintenance as well as reducing over land transportation issues.
The storage facility is linked to a distribution terminal by a 74-km (46-mile) long oil pipeline and is the last of five similar storage facilities that have been opened in Jeddah, Abha, Medina and the capital Riyadh.
The senior VP for industrial relations for Aramco, Abdul-Aziz al-Khayyal, says: The facilities have allowed greater flexibility in the scheduling of maintenance works at refineries and in avoiding any shortage in supplying consumers.
Saudi Aramco adds that the underground facility would also minimise disruptions to the supply distributions within such a sprawling country.
