JOHOR BARU: Johor expects its oil storage capacity to hit 10 million cubic metres in the years 2017-2020 which will see it emerging as Asia's new oil storage hub, said Johor Petroleum Development Corporation Bhd (JPDC).

Its Chief Executive, Mohd Yazid Jaafar, said the oil storage capacity will come from the complexes in Pengerang, Tanjung Bin and Tanjung Langsat.

"We plan to achieve the target (10 million cubic metres) in phases from 2017-2020," he told Bernama in an interview here.

JPDC is a federal government agency, only recently established to coordinate the development of the oil and gas sector in Johor, especially downstream industries such as processing and storage of oil and petrochemicals.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Datuk Seri Idris Jala, and Menteri Besar Johor Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman, are joint chairman of JPDC.

Mohd Yazid said according to the planning, the Pengerang complex had the potential of storing five million cubic metres of oil, while Tanjung Bin would be able to hold three million and Tanjung Langsat another two million.

Currently, Tanjung Langsat has the capacity for 650,000 cubic metres, while Tanjung Bin can store 840,000 cubic metres.

In Pengerang, Dialog with the cooperation of Royal Vopak NV and the state government is building an Independent Deepwater Petroleum Terminal (IDPT) facility worth RM5 billion.

The terminal is expected to be fully completed in 2014.

The first phase of the project will include building oil storage facility with the capacity to store 1.3 million cubic metres worth RM1.9 billion. Its completion is due next year.

With further expansion, the facility will be able to take on an additional one million cubic metres of oil.

In a recent interview with Bernama, Johor Port had said that it was in the final rounds of negotiations with three investors for investments worth RM2 billion for the storage of oil in Tanjing Bin Petrochemicals and Maritime Centre (TBPMC).

TBPMC was set up by Seaport Worldwide Sdn Bhd, a fully owned subsidiary company of Johor Port.

Mohd Yazid said JPDC was also looking at a storage turnover of between 0.8 to 1.2 million cubic metres or tank turns per-month, similar to the industry level seen in neighbouring Singapore.

"This means in a year, between 100 million and 140 million cubic metres of oil would be going in and out of the related storage tanks."

Currently, the capacity for independent storage of oil in Singapore amounts to 10 million cubic metres while in Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Amtwerp (ARA) it amounts to 40-45 million cubic metres.

BERNAMA