Sharjah’s Green Petrochem signed an agreement on 22 July with government’s Hamriyah Free Zone Authority (HFZA) to lease a 18,600m3 plot of land to build an additional 150,000m3 (950,000 barrels) of fuels and chemicals storage. The company did not reveal its existing storage capacity within the zone. It attributes the need for increased storage capacity to growing demand for its services. Customers are typically in the shipping and logistics industries, it says. Green Petrochem operates a catalytic cracker with capacity to process 5,700 b/d of heavy ends into lighter products including naphtha, kerosene, gasoil and solvents as well as some fuel oil.

HFZA says it is the UAE’s second largest industrial zone after Dubai’s Jebel Ali Free Zone. Both are conveniently sited to support oil industry and industrial operations in the Gulf region. (CONTINUED - 135 WORDS)