Vopak, which offers oil, chemical and biofuel storage in major ports including Rotterdam (Europoort, Botlek), Fujairah, Tallinn (Termoil, Trendgate, Pakterminal, Stiviterminal) and Singapore (Pasir Gudang, Pengerang), said it saw strong demand for its storage services for both oil and chemicals products.

“We maintain the previously indicated 2013 outlook of EBITDA of between 725-800 million euros, whereby the possibility that Vopak reaches the lower end of the 2013 outlook range in 2012 cannot be excluded,” Chief Executive Eelco Hoekstra said in a written statement.

Analyst Andre Mulder at Kepler Capital Markets, said achieving the 2013 target early seemed easily possible.

“Simply quadrupling the first-quarter’s results would put 2012 at 740 million euros, easily within the 2013 range. Added to that should be capacity expansion and increasing utilisation,” he said in a research note.

Vopak’s oil storage business benefits from imbalances between producing and consuming regions while its chemical storage business relies on a strong output in the chemical industry. It operates 84 terminals in 31 countries.

Jack de Kreij, chief financial officer, said the main driver for the strong results was the group’s profitable capacity expansion.

He said Vopak continues to look for opportunities to expand its range of storage facilities, for example outside the Strait of Hormuz, as well as in Panama, and in West Africa, given the imbalances in the world and need for additional infrastructure.
Last year Vopak acquired two LNG terminals – terminal Altamira in Mexico, which it runs in a joint venture with Spanish Enagas, and the second terminal in India’s port of Kandla.

It said additional sites currently under construction would add 5.6 million cbm of storage capacity until 2014.

Operating profit for the first quarter came in at 138 million euros ($182.2 million), well ahead of the 126 million expected in a Reuters poll, and up 26 percent from a year ago.