January 5, 2015 [OPIS] - The Belgian port of Antwerp, site of the biggest petrochemical cluster in Europe, handled in 2014 a record 62.7 million metric tons of liquid bulk, primarily consisting of petroleum derivatives, chemicals and crude oil.
The 2014 total was 5.4% higher than that of 2013, which was a particularly strong year in which liquid bulk volumes had surged by 31.4% amid expanding storage capacity and the deepening of seaward access channels.
Growth in 2014 was led by a 17.8% rise in liquid bulk exports, while imports remained more or less stable.
Antwerp is home to three major refineries: Total’s Refining and Petrochemical complex, ExxonMobil, the Independent Belgian Refinery owned by Gunvor, as well as two steam crackers operated by Total and one by BASF, and the biggest ethylene terminal in Europe recently constructed by Ineos.
The 11 terminal operators offer 6.9 million cbm of storage capacity for all liquid products.
Upcoming large-scale projects at Antwerp are likely to see the site maintain its position as the fastest growing port in the Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam (ARA) region and cement its status as the main petrochemical hub in Europe.
Among them, ExxonMobil most recently committed $1 billion to its Antwerp facility in July to enable the conversion of heavy, high-sulfur remainder fractions into cleaner oil products and transport fuels. The oil major has over the past decade sunk more than $2 billion at the site to meet European demand for fuels and other oil products.
France’s Total has also invested some 1 billion euros ($1.22 billion) at its complex to produce ultra-low sulfur fuels as well as increasing its refining and petrochemical integration by converting waste refinery gases for cheap cracker feedstock.
