Russia Scraps Rotterdam Oil Terminal Project

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Friday July 17, 2015

The $1.1 billion oil storage terminal project at the Port of Rotterdam has been cancelled due to feasibility concerns, Reuters reports.

Shtandart TT, owned by Russian investment firm Summa Group, wanted to re-open discussions on the quantity of the oil products at the terminal, which it would have built in partnership with Rotterdam port.

Summa claims it still has a good relationship with the port and continues to maintain its Soyuz Bunkering Group (SBG) bunker business there, but ultimately cancelled the project due to a changed macroeconomic situation and oil market conditions.

Dutch media notes that Shtandart would have paid 170 million Euros annually to lease the 3 million cubic metre terminal over the next 30 years.

The facility would have earned a further 22 million Euros annually in harbour fees.

Hamza Khan, an energy analyst at Dutch bank ING, told Reuters that the cancelled project, which would have accommodated Urals deliveries from the Port of Primorsk, won't materially impact the port.

"A Russian-only terminal is going to be less flexible," he said, adding that facilities storing different sources of oil are more attractive in the current marketplace.

Last month, the fate of the project was questioned after a proposed supply deal received little support from Russian oil majors and government representatives.