SINGAPORE, Feb 3 (Reuters) - World's largest independentstorage operator Vopak will start operations at crudeoil facilities in Malaysia in March, a senior company officialsaid on Tuesday.
The facilities for crude storage, blending and distributionservices will be Southeast Asia's first commercial independentstorage for crude, Vopak Asia's Division President Patrick vander Voort said in an e-mail.
Located in Pengerang, in the southern state of Johor, thefacilities can store 420,000 cubic metres of oil (2.6 millionbarrels), he said.
BP and Total have leased the storage spacefrom Vopak, industry sources familiar with the matter said.
Vopak and BP declined to comment on commercial activitieswhile Total did not reply to an e-mail seeking comment.
The crude storage facilities are part of a joint ventureterminal project between Vopak, Malaysia's Dialog Group and the state government of Johor. When completed, itwill have a capacity of about 1.3 million cubic metres to storeoil products in addition to crude. (Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Himani Sarkar)