NEWS
Petroplus reveals Rotterdam LNG project II
Rotterdam, Aug 17 (LNG journal)
- Petroplus International, the privately-held midstream oil and gas company, has announced plans for a liquefied natural gas terminal in Rotterdam, giving the world's largest port its second LNG project this week.
The announcement came a day after Royal Vopak, the tank storage giant, and Nederlandse Gasunie, the Dutch gas transport and network company, said their LNG terminal project for the Dutch port was moving forward.
Rotterdam could now become the main hub in Europe for the handling of LNG if both terminal plans reach fruition, analysts said.
Vopak and Gasunie said this week they have identified the north-west section of the Maasvlakte at Rotterdam as their potential terminal location. See LNG journal news story .
The Petroplus terminal, which would operate under the name of LionGas, is planned in Europoort Rotterdam, where Petroplus said it would have the exclusive rights on a site to supply and to receive LNG into the Netherlands .
Petroplus said it hopes to have its Rotterdam terminal operational by the end of 2009 and has begun the planning process by presenting an environmental impact report.
The planned Petroplus terminal would have an initial capacity of 6 billion cubic metres per annum and would be expanded in phases. The construction would involve an investment of several hundred million euros, a Petroplus statement said.
Guaranteed long-term agreements for throughput were one of the main conditions for the investment, the statement added. Petroplus said it had already signed letters of intent for the further development of the project with some five domestic and foreign companies, without giving details.
"Third parties are also planning to build a power station in Europoort," Petroplus added. "If both initiatives could be combined, this would be favourable from a point of view of energy-efficiency."
Petroplus is involved in the Dragon LNG import terminal project in Milford Haven, Wales , in the UK , along with BG Group of the UK and Petronas. The Dragon project is expected to be operational by the end of 2007.
Petroplus also said it's planning the development of other LNG terminals within and outside Europe , without giving details.
Petroplus was established 12 years ago and owns refineries at several locations, including Teesside in the UK . It has developed into a leading player in the European midstream oil market, with interests in refining, marketing and tank storage.
In late 2003, Petroplus closed the crude unit at its Antwerp refinery, reducing the company's crude oil throughput capacity to 240,000 barrels a day.
An investment vehicle, jointly owned by US private equity firms Carlyle Group and Riverstone Holdings, then acquired Petroplus in a share buy-up and in April 2005 announced it was being de-listed from the Euronext stock exchange.
