Preliminary works have begun to construct the Northern Territory’s (NT) largest fuel storage facility, which will play a key role in U.S. defence operations in the region. According to an NT Government media release on Tuesday, the facility will be located at East Arm in Darwin and hold up to 300 million litres (approx. 80 million gallons) of fuel. At the cost of $270 million (US$194.1 million), the infrastructure is to be used for the transfer, management, and storage of military specification jet fuels. In September 2021, the U.S. Government awarded Crowley, a U.S.-based company providing global energy and logistics services, the tender to provide fuel storage and management to support the U.S. military. Then in December, the Northern Territory’s Land Development Corporation and Crowley Australia, the Australia-based subsidiary, agreed on where the infrastructure should be located, subsequently signing a long-term lease. Crowley Australia will manage the development and operations …