Abha, Saudi Arabia, 18th February 2003
Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, the Second Deputy Premier, Minister of Defence and Aviation and Inspector General, today patronized the opening ceremony of Abha Strategic Oil Storage, 40 miles north of the mountain resort city of Abha.
Upon arrival at the site, Prince Sultan was received by Prince Khalid Al-Faisal bin Abdul Aziz, Governor of Asir Region, Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Hidaithi, Supervisor of the Saudi Program for Strategic Oil Storage, and high-ranking officials overseeing the program.
In a briefing, Al-Hidaithi said that a 245-kilometre oil pipeline supplies the Store with oil from Jazan Distribution Station across the Asir Heights. Prince Sultan toured the giant facilities of the project. At a speech ceremony, the Project’s Supervisor explained that two support pumping stations operate to boost the flow of oil from sea level across ten kilometres of tunnels to mountain peaks of up to 2800 metres. In subsequent speeches, President and Senior Executive of Saudi Aramco, Abdullah bin Salih Jumaa, said that the proportion of Saudi nationals joining the Project at Riyadh and Jiddah branches has reached 98%.
Also speaking to the gathering, the Director of the company responsible for implementing the project, Willet Hemegern, said that the storage capacity of the Riyadh, Jiddah and Abha sites amounts to 70% of the total storage capacity of the five sites. He noted that work of the Saudi Program for Strategic Oil Storage would be completed within four years, including work at Buraidah and Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah sites. He expressed his pride in the partnership between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Sweden, and noted that approximately 3000 Saudi nationals have received training to join the Project.
Source: SPA
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