Dubai: The government of Fujairah has sold "most of the stakes" in its refinery to Swiss-based oil trader Vitol, WAM reported on its website yesterday.
The 82,000 barrel per day refinery has been mothballed but a government official said last month it could be restarted once it was sold.
"The deal was signed on Thursday night during a meeting between His Highness Shaikh Hamad Bin Mohammad Al Sharqi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Fujairah and Ian Taylor, president of Vitol Group," WAM said.
The statement did not give a value for the sale. Taylor said his group was eager to partner with the government of Fujairah to consolidate the emirate's strategic role in the local, regional and international energy markets.
The plant has been shut since March 2003 due to poor refinery margins. Production had previously been interrupted from 1998 to 2000 after the plant's former owner, Metro Oil Corp, went bankrupt.
The Fujairah refinery, on the Gulf of Oman just outside the shipping chokepoint of the Strait of Hormuz, is one of the world's largest ship refuelling centres.
Around 20 per cent of global daily crude supply passes through the Strait.
The refinery, which was built on a large area that could allow for future expansion, has two units with a refining capacity of 82,000 barrels per day. It has storage capacity of 460,000 cubic metres.
The refinery has access to the ultra-modern bunk-ering facilities and services of the Fujairah seaport. The seaport has three quays with a total length of 840 metres and 20 gantries for loading and unloading fuel.
