RIYADH, March 29 (Reuters) - Saudi Aramco has opened a new refined oil products storage facility in central Saudi Arabia, to allow for more flexibility in scheduling refinery maintenance and minimising supply disruptions, the state news agency said.
The 650,000 barrel underground facility in Qassim is linked to a distribution terminal with a 46-mile-long (74-km) oil pipeline, state news agency SPA said.
It is the last of five similar storage facilities that were opened in Jeddah, Abha, Medina and the capital Riyadh, according to SPA.
"(The facilities) have allowed greater flexibility in the scheduling of maintenance works at refineries and in avoiding any shortage in supplying consumers," Abdul-Aziz al-Khayyal, Aramco's senior vice-President for industrial relations, said in a statement.
The facilities would also cut operating costs and reduce reliance on land transport to move petroleum products within the sprawling country, he added. (Reporting by Souhail Karam; Editing by Rupert Winchester)