JEDDAH, 25 November 2007 -- Saudi Arabia's fourth strategic petroleum storage facility is now ready in Madinah. Prince Abdul Aziz ibn Majed, governor of the region, will open the facility tomorrow 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 this year. As many as four million metric tons of rock have been removed to establish the facility whose underground tunnel has a length of 30 kms. 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.
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.
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah opened the first storage facility in Riyadh in 1999 and the second in Jeddah in 2002 while Sultan commissioned the third in Abha in 2003. All are operated by Saudi Aramco following the highest safety standard to guarantee the safety of both personnel and facilities.
Al-Sayegh emphasized the significance of the strategic petroleum storage program as petroleum represents the backbone of a country's economic power and plays an important role 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," the SSSP chief pointed out. Keeping in mind this strategic importance, the government decided to establish five storage facilities in various parts of the country. "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."
The Abha Strategic Oil Storage is located 40 miles north of the city. A 245-km oil pipeline supplies the facility with oil from the Jizan Distribution Station across the Asir Heights.
Two support pumping stations operate to boost the flow of oil from sea level through 10 kms of tunnels to mountain peaks as high as 2,800 meters.
The ceremony will include speeches by Musaed Al-Sayegh, the program's director general, Abdallah Jum'ah, the CEO of Saudi Aramco, and Willet Hemegern, director of ABV-Rock Group, the contractor. A documentary will also be shown.
By P.K. Abdul Ghafour
© Arab News 2007
