People travelling to and from the Hamad International Airport (HIA) is likely to feel happy as permission has been granted to Woqod to build and operate a petrol station near the airport.

The cabinet approved the draft decree to let Qatar Fuel (Woqod) to build a petrol station in the land around HIA, reported The Peninsula.

Earlier last month, Woqod had opened the Al Egla and Lusail petrol stations, taking the total number of Woqod stations in the country to 60.

Woqod CEO Saad Rashid Al Muhannadi said the company had an ambitious plan to increase the number of its fuel stations in Qatar to 120 within three years, according to Gulf Times.

He said that around 30 new fuel stations will be completed by the end of 2018. He added that the company was also planning to increase the number of dispensers within the currently operational stations by 59% in 2018, and will continue with the same rate of increase in 2019 and 2020. 

Meanwhile, Woqod’s net profits for the year 2017, excluding minority interests, rose by 9.2% to QR964m, compared to the previous year’s QR883m, reported The Peninsula.

Return on share increased to QR9.7 from QR8.9 per share from a year ago. Ownership rights increased by about 1.1% to QR7.4bn, from QR7.3bn reported in 2016.

Al Muhannadi attributed the strong results to the increase in fuel sales in general, in addition to the measure taken for costs reduction through a multi- initiative integrated cost optimisation policy being implemented in phased manner, and is expected to yield results in the near future.