AD Ports in talks to lease Egypt’s Red Sea oil storage

Egypt is reportedly reviewing an offer from AD Ports Group to lease storage facilities for crude oil and petroleum products on the Red Sea coast.

The storage facilities at Red Sea ports offer an alternative corridor for global energy flows, Asharq Business, an Arabic financial website, reported, quoting an unnamed government official.

Negotiations with AD Ports, which has its headquarters in the UAE, are underway and likely to reach a final agreement before the end of the second quarter, he said. 

The number and locations of the storage tanks are being finalised, along with the lease duration and terms, whether monthly or annual.

In March, the news portal reported that the Egyptian government was targeting international oil trading, transport and storage companies to use Cairo’s surplus storage capacity, estimated at 29 million barrels, at its Ain Sokhna and Ras Badran ports.

The Red Sea is emerging as an alternative energy transit route amid the almost total shutdown of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, which accounts for a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil trade and a fifth of liquefied natural gas supplies.

In February, AD Ports secured $115 million to support the development of the Noatum Ports Safaga terminal in Egypt, as it seeks to expand critical logistics infrastructure worldwide. 

AD Ports Group is developing cruise terminals in the Red Sea ports of Safaga, Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh. 

In 2025, the company expanded its portfolio through a 50-year renewable agreement to develop and operate Kezad East Port Said, a 20sq km industrial and logistics park at the Mediterranean gateway to the Suez Canal.

• AD Ports refinances $2.5bn loan with two UAE banks
• AD Ports net profit rises 16% to $572m
• AD Ports to invest $38m in Jordan’s Aqaba in partnership deal

In November, AD Ports acquired a 19.3 percent equity stake in Alexandria Container & Cargo Handling Company, one of Egypt’s largest container terminal operators.

The company’s stock closed 2.3 percent higher at AED4.38 on the Abu Dhabi stock exchange on Tuesday and is down 8 percent so far this year.

AD Ports has a free float of nearly 25 percent, with the remaining stake held by sovereign wealth fund ADQ.