The Dutch VTTI has withdrawn completely from the project to build an oil terminal at the port of Rotterdam (Tank Terminal Europoort West, TEW). Summa Group acquired 25% of the shares in Shtandart TT BV (operator of the project to build the Rotterdam port oil terminal) from VTTI, thereby consolidating 100%, Vedomosti was told by a source close to the port of Rotterdam. Representatives of VTTI and Summa confirmed the transaction but refrained from disclosing the details. The amount of the transaction is unknown and no-one would disclose it to Vedomosti. A VTTI representative specified that the transaction was closed on 4 February. 

Nor would the VTTI representative explain the reasons for the deal. One source  suggested that the company had withdrawn from the project since it could not gain control over the JV with Summa. “Shtandart is the only project in which the consortium had such a small stake. Of the 11 existing terminals, VTTI in only two of them holds 49 and 50% of the shares, while in the others it holds 90-100% of the shares. Apart from Shtandart, the consortium holds 100% in the new projects for VTTI terminals”, he notes. 

Summa might get a new partner at the port of Rotterdam. Negotiations are under way with the state-owned Rosneft  “on co-operation within the scope of the project”, according to a Vedomosti source close to the oil company. The version is being discussed or Rosneft purchasing a stake in Shtandart TT BV, as well as guarantees of oil transshipment through the terminal, one source states. Yet no decision has actually been taken on Rosneft participation, he emphasises. The Chairman of the oil company refused to comment. 

Summa is building the terminal in Rotterdam for importing Urals brand oil, where it will be sold on FOB terms. Most of the supplies will come from the port of Primorsk (belonging to a Summa/Transneft JV). “We believe that the project in Rotterdam will help strengthen the positions of Russian oil in the world. Back in 2005, Vladimir Putin set the task of developing a way of eliminating the negative price difference between Urals and Brent oil”, Summa President Alexander Vinokurov said in an interview with Vedomosti. According to Vinokurov, this problem could be resolved by setting up a trading platform for Urals in Europe. Summa plans to create this on the basis of TEW. This coincides with Rosneft’s desire to strengthen its positions in the oil trade segment, according to Dmitriy Alexandrov, Investment Director for UK Univer Capital. 

Shtandart TT BV was set up in 2011 for construction of the oil trans-shipment terminal at the port of Rotterdam. At the same time, the company signed an agreement with the administration of the Rotterdam port on construction of an oil trans-shipment and petroleum product terminal with a capacity of 3.2 m cub.m. 1 bn Euro are to be invested in the terminal, 800m EUR coming from Shtandart TT BV and 200 m EUR from the port of Rotterdam, according to the port of Rotterdam’s presentation for potential investors in the project. Construction of the terminal will be launched in the middle of this year and the first ship will leave it in January 2017, with full capacity being reached at the end of 2019. Construction launch might, however, be deferred to the end of the year, according to a source at the port. Shtandart is facing difficulties in obtaining the permission documentation to start the work; in particular, approval by the first service has not yet been received.