Muscat, Represented by the Refineries and Petroleum Industries sector, OQ has acquired the 40% stake of Spanish company Exolum in OQ Logistics firm.

Through this acquisition, OQ Refineries and Petroleum Industries LLC now holds 100% shareholding in OQ Logistics LLC.

This is considered a significant step forward in the integration of the logistics infrastructure and regularization of the business framework, which contributes to the growth of the petroleum industries’ logistic services sector.

OQ Refineries and Petroleum industries LLC (formerly Orpic) had signed an agreement to establish OQ Logistics LLC way back in January 2014, in partnership with the Spanish Company Logistica De Hidrocarburos CLH holding a 40% stake to build and operate a pipeline to transport multiple oil products in both directions linking the two OQ refineries in Muscat and Suhar and linking them to a major storage facility in Al Jifnain area.

OQ Logistics LLC owns Al Jifnain terminals in the Governorate of Muscat, which is the largest terminal for storing and distributing refined petroleum products in Oman, with a storage capacity of 170,000 cubic metres of oil derivatives, along with pipelines connecting Muscat and Suhar to Al Jifnain and Al Jifnain to Muscat International Airport to transport refined petroleum fuel products.

Hilal Al Kharusi, Chief Executive of Commercial and Downstream said, “OQ intends to integrate its portfolio of refined petroleum business while also developing a strategic fuel reserve on behalf of the Government to ensure continuous and sustainable delivery to the customers. With this acquisition, OQ now works to meet its strategic objective to consolidate and integrate OQ Logistics LLC with other OQ logistics assets, thereby establishing a larger platform for logistics infrastructure business in Oman. This leads to developing a contractual and commercial framework to then monetize the consolidated entity through an initial public offering (IPO). It will also offer an opportunity for a logistic infrastructure asset in Oman listing in Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX).”

Meanwhile, Jorge Lanza, Chief Executive Officer of Exolum, said, “It has been an honour for Exolum to participate in this project, which was also our first foray into international markets. This joint venture with OQ opened the door to new business opportunities outside Spain and, partly thanks to it, Exolum is now present in the UK, Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, Panama, Ecuador and Peru. From the outset, we were confident that this project would be innovative, contributing significantly to the country’s prosperity, and that it would bring significant improvements to the petroleum products industry.”

Source: Oman News Agency