VTTI’s Cyprus terminal plans first cargo for mid-November
The Cyprus storage terminal of Vitol Tank Terminal Int (VTTI) will receive its first product shipment in mid-November, the company said on Tuesday, enabling it to target key Mediterranean markets such as Turkey with oil products from massive new refineries from outside the region.
The 543,000 cubic meter storage facility will open all four jetties of its deep-water marine terminal at that time. General manager George Papanastasiou said they were in the process of negotiating the first deliveries, which traders said were likely to include naphtha, jet fuel and diesel.
VTTI, a venture evenly split between Vitol and Malaysian shipping company MISC, built the terminal in an effort to take advantage of product flows from large new refineries in the Middle East and Asia.
In recent weeks, several cargoes of ultra low-sulphur diesel from the new 400,000 barrel per day Jubail refinery in Saudi Arabia, a joint venture between Total and Saudi Aramco, have landed in the Mediterranean. But only a limited number of ports can handle vessels above the medium range, 30,000 tonne size, limiting the ability to take deliveries from the new refineries.
VTTI has a global capacity of 8.6 million cubic meters (mcm), up from 6 mcm three years ago. CEO Rob Nijst said VTTI planned to grow its capacity further to over 10 mcm in the next few years. [Reuters]
