Asia/Pacific News
Near Doubling of Malaysia Oil Terminal Planned
Major oil trader Vitol Group and Malaysian state-run shipper MISC will expand the capacity of Malaysia's largest oil storage terminal from 890,000 cubic meters to 1,690,000 cubic meters by mid-2014, Reuters reports.
The Johor terminal began in April 2012 with 41 tanks for butane, light and middle distillates, and fuel oil, and it received 360 ships and moved 38 million barrels of oil products in 2012.
The companies plan to increase the number of tanks, nearly doubling the total capacity, with the intention of leasing the extra capacity.
Malaysia has been using tax incentives to attract oil storage operators from Singapore and working to develop a $20 billion refinery and petrochemicals hub.
Vitol said last month that it plans to start selling bunkers at the Johor port in about six months, and that it wants to supply half of the site's 3 million metric-tonnes-per-year demand.
