 To facilitate this movement , a series of oil storage facilities were constructed at Gibraltar , Malta , Port Said , Port Sudan , Aden , Colombo , Trincomalee , Rangoon , Singapore , and Hong Kong . A complicating factor was that the battleships could not traverse the Suez Canal fully laden , so they would have to refuel on the other side . Singapore was to have storage for 1 @,@ 250 @,@ 000 long tons ( 1 @,@ 270 @,@ 000 t ) of oil . Secret bases were established at <unk> Bay , Addu Atoll and <unk> . It was estimated that the fleet would require 110 @,@ 000 long tons ( 110 @,@ 000 t ) of oil per month , which would be transported in 60 tankers . Oil would be shipped in from the refineries at Abadan and Rangoon , supplemented by buying up the entire output of the Netherlands East Indies . 
