May 11, 2023 [Argus]- TotalEnergies has completed a bitumen terminal expansion to 20,000-30,000t of storage capacity at Navigator Terminals’ Teesside facility in northeast England.

TotalEnergies, which began importing cargoes into Teesside last Spring, having already agreed a deal with Navigator on capacity expansion, will also complete a new terminal jetty there in June.

The new jetty will be able to handle small and large bitumen tankers in the 20,000-30,000 deadweight tonne (dwt) range, replacing an existing jetty that can only handle tankers up to 7,000 dwt.

The expanded terminal gives the UK an additional import option, especially after Prax Group ceased bitumen production in recent months at its 109,000 b/d Lindsey Oil Refinery, also on Teesside, after mounting feedstock supply issues. The refinery had been purchased in 2020 from TotalEnergies.

TotalEnergies already runs a 10,000t capacity Thames bitumen terminal at Grays in Essex.

French construction firm Colas’ trading and shipping unit Continental Bitumen has been building a new bitumen terminal at Bristol, Avonmouth, in southwest England. But its start-up has been delayed, with market participants expecting it sometime in the fourth quarter of this year. The firm’s newly built 21,500 dwt LNG powered bitumen tankers, the Atlantic Narval and the Baltic Narval, have now left their shipyard.

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