Vitol to build €100 mln oil products terminal in Cyprus

Vitol, the world's largest energy trader, plans to build an oil import and distribution terminal in Cyprus, it said on Thursday.
Vitol Tank Terminals International (VTTI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Vitol Group, said it expects the project to be completed by 2012 at an initial cost of more than 100 mln euros and an option to expand the facility at a cost of further 100 mln.
The terminal in the southern coastal region of Vassiliko would provide 347,000 cubic metres of storage for gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and fuel oil.
"This terminal will turn Cyprus into a regional oil product hub allowing us to export products from this terminal into other parts of the east Med," VTTI CEO Rob Nijst told a news conference in Nicosia. The terminal facility would hold 20 tanks and construction was expected to be complete in the second half of 2012, VTTI said. In addition to storage tanks, a jetty would also be constructed to handle seagoing vessels.
Vassiliko is already an industrialised area and will be the hub of a liquefied natural gas regasification facility and storage terminal managed by the island's electricity authority, EAC. The EAC is seeking a strategic partner for that project.
Worldwide, VTTI owns more than 5 mln cubic metres of storage, which it hopes to grow to exceed 8 mln cubic metres by 2013, Nijst said.
Last month Vitol agreed to sell 50% of VTTI to Malaysia's MISC Bhd, an international shipping line, for $735 mln. The deal had yet to close as of July 21.