Egypt’s Wepco mulls USD 420 mn expansion of oil storage infrastructure at its Al Hamra Terminal

More crude oil storage for Wepco: The state-owned Western Desert Operating Petroleum Company (Wepco) is looking to invest some USD 420 mn to expand its Al Hamra termina, Al Arabiya reports, citing an unnamed company source. The first phase of the expansion will see the company setting up and operating four crude oil storage and trading warehouses by August and another four to start operations in 1Q 2025.

Wepco? The state-owned company handles storage and trade operations for crude oil output from Egypt’s Western Desert using its Al Hamra terminal, the sole oil trading port on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast. Crude oil from Al Hamra is transferred to tankers for export, and via pipelines for domestic use.

The details: The first phase of four warehouses will increase capacity by 2.5 mn barrels and will be used to store and facilitate the trade of crude oil to domestic and international buyers in the next fiscal year. The phase is over 90% complete and trial operations are set to begin in June.

Big plans ahead: Wepco is planning to handle 95 mn barrels of oil at its Al Hamra terminal during the upcoming fiscal year — an average of 260k barrels per day.