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LONDON: Saudi Aramco has completed a major upgrade of its port at Yanbu that will allow it to handle an extra 3 million barrels per day of crude oil.
It comes amid a global supply crunch that has led to calls for increased output from Middle East oil exporters such as ��������Ƶ.
The terminal, which is located south of Yanbu on the west coast, consists of a tank farm and offshore facilities to receive, store and load Arabian Light and Arabian Super Light Crude.
“The successful startup of the Yanbu South Terminal is another milestone in reinforcing Saudi Aramco’s goal to be the world’s leading integrated energy and chemicals producer,” said Abdullah Al-Mansour, executive head of pipelines, distribution and terminals at Saudi Aramco.
Yanbu is one of ��������Ƶ’s key petroleum shipping terminals and the country’s second port after Jeddah, located about 300 kilometers to the south. Crude flows from oilfields in the east of the country through pipelines that terminate in Yanbu, before being loaded onto supertankers and being transported around the world.
OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo on Tuesday urged oil companies to increase capacity and boost investment as spare oil capacity shrinks worldwide.
The global oil sector needs about $11 trillion in investment to meet future oil needs in the period up to 2040, Barkindo said.
Earlier this week Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said that the Kingdom was the world’s energy “shock absorber” and pledged to continue to offer a cushion to global supply interruptions.
His remarks coincided with mounting concerns among energy-importing nations about the recent rise in the oil price and increased pressure from the US for the Kingdom to boost production.
“We could have another unanticipated, unplanned disruption. We’ve seen Libya, we’ve seen Nigeria, we’ve seen Venezuela and we have sanctions on Iran. These supply disruptions need a shock absorber,” Al-Falih told the CERAWeek event by IHS Markit.
“The shock absorber has been, to a large part, ��������Ƶ. We have invested tens of billions of dollars to build the spare capacity which has been two to three million barrels over the years.”