The Broward County Commission has issued a retender in January after failing to agree on a winner for the previous drawn-out tender due to economic and political factors.
The debate over the economic benefits and bidding process of the previous tender took more than a year, ending with a deadlocked vote at the commission last December.
In the new tender, Magellan Midstream Partners is the only repeat bidder from the previous tender. Joining Magellan on the bidding list are Nustar Energy and Oiltanking Houston.
In the previous tender, the other two bidders were Brazil’s Cepemar and TransMontaigne.
The selection committee of the county commission had ranked Magellan as the top bidder in the previous tender, followed by Cepemar. TransMontaigne did not make the final round due to a disagreement over land lease contract and payment.
Ellen Kennedy, a spokeswoman for Port Everglades, said that the bidders would be shortlisted on April 13 under a new revised set of criteria.
On May 18, shortlisted companies are scheduled to make presentations to the commission, and these bidders would be ranked according to economic benefits from their proposals. This will be followed by contract negotiations.
The agenda item will go before the Broward County Commission for approval in early June. Construction of the new oil terminal is expected to take 12-18 months.
Previously, Magellan planned to demolish the existing terminal, which was built during World War II, and rebuild an entirely new 1.68-million bbl storage terminal. Magellan’s project would cost about $80 million. Cepemar’s $30 million proposal called for renovation of these tanks, keeping the total capacity intact at 960,000 bbl.

It is likely that Magellan may need to tweak its original proposal to meet the revised requirements of the new tender.
The new requirements include a land lease of 20 years, with an extension option for another 10 years.
Bidders would need to establish ownership and direct operating experience in oil terminaling industry.
The rules also stipulate that bidders must avoid significant construction issues such as delays.
With construction costs down substantially from a year ago, bidders are expected to make benefits of the new construction more attainable. Companies must agree to pay a minimum rent of $1.0-1.2 million a year, depending of size of the land leased.
The winner must maintain an inventory of 420,000 gal each of gasoline and diesel at the new terminal, which must be be available for sale to Broward County in an event of a hurricane or supply disruption.
The winner must also commit a minimum of $40 million in capital investment for the project versus $25 million in the previous tender.
Meanwhile, Port Everglades, which is seeing a jump in new storage capacity, was singled out as a market that could be oversupplied, terminal industry sources told OPIS last year.
TransMontaigne had constructed some new tanks at Port Everglades, totaling 438,000 bbl, for storing cutterstock and fuel oil. Chevron is building six new tanks at Port Everglades, with the completion slated for mid-2010.