Saudi Arabia sets up fourth oil strategic reserve
Posted: 11 December 2007
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Saudi Arabia has opened its fourth strategic petroleum storage facility as the Gulf Kingdom seeks to build up a large reserve for emergency.
Prince Abdul Aziz ibn Majed, governor of the Madinah region, opened the facility on behalf of Crown Prince Sultan, chairman of the Saudi Strategic Storage Program (SSSP).
The Madinah storage site was formally handed over to Saudi Aramco in February 2007. As many as four million metric tons of rock have been removed to establish the facility whose underground tunnel has a length of nearly 30 kilometres, according to an official statement.
“Some 130,000 steel bars, 600,000 metric meters of reinforced concrete, 70,000 tons of iron, 150 kms of pipes, 3,000 kms of electric cables and 177 kms of optical fiber cables have been used to build the facility,” it said.
Reviewing the stages of SSSP, Prince Sultan said the idea emerged about 20 years ago when foreign aircraft raided the south of the Kingdom.
“This necessitated deterrents to prevent a repetition of this incident. King Fahd and then Crown Prince Abdullah issued directives to take the required measures. In the light of this, a military and civil committee representing military sectors and the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources was formed,” the prince said.
King Abdullah opened the first storage facility in Riyadh in 1999 and the second in Jeddah in 2002 while Prince Sultan commissioned the third in Abha in 2003. All are operated by Saudi Aramco, which said it is following high safety standard to guarantee the safety of both personnel and facilities.
Al-Sayegh emphasized the role of the strategic petroleum storage program as oil represents the backbone of a country’s economic power and plays an important part in times of peace. “It becomes a rare commodity in the time of war,” he pointed out. “Enemies often target petroleum facilities during wars….Any halt in the supply of petroleum will affect economic growth, weaken military machinery and affect civilian facilities such as hospitals, industries and agriculture.”
He said the facility can preserve petroleum for a long period without any changes taking place in either its nature or chemistry. Tests conducted on petroleum stored in the facilities have proved that they are safe, he added.
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