Americas News
Chemoil Expands US East Coast Operations
Chemoil Energy Ltd. (Chemoil) is expanding its U.S. East Coast operations with the lease of 1.35 million barrels of capacity at bunker terminals in Florida under a two-year agreement with TransMontaigne Partners LP [NYSE:TLP] (TransMontaigne), according to industry sources familiar with the matter.
TransMontaigne, who made an announcement on the matter yesterday, currently leases the facilities to Morgan Stanley [NYSE:MS], but that agreement will expire on May 31 as Morgan Stanley seeks to sell its stake in TransMontaigne and shrinks its physical operations.
The new deal with Chemoil will start June 1, 2014 and includes renewal options.
Chemoil has not yet made an official statement on the developments, with TransMontaigne only revealing yesterday that the terminaling services agreement was with an "unrelated third-party" that CEO Chuck Dunlap described as "a high quality customer".
However industry sources close to the matter who spoke to Ship & Bunker, along with a number of other media reports, all identified Chemoil as the party involved.
Morgan Stanley and TransMontaigne previously ended leases for the so-called Razorback terminals in Missouri and Arkansas, with Magellan Pipeline Company LP taking over the facilities and a pipeline under a 10-year deal.
TransMontaigne CEO Dunlap said in May of 2013 that Morgan Stanley planned to allow the agreements to expire and that the company was pursuing new deals with other parties.
