February 20, 2023 [Argus] – Vitol Asia, a subsidiary of Swiss-based energy and commodity trading firm Vitol, will commission a 50,000-70,000t bitumen storage facility in Malaysia’s Tanjung Bin from 2024.

Engineering firm Rotary will build the storage tanks at the VTTI ATB terminal and next to Vitol’s recently commissioned ATB refinery in the state of Johor, while Vitol’s global terminal arm VTTI will be the operator.

The tanks are expected to be available for storage from the second half of 2024, the firm announced at its groundbreaking ceremony on 15 February. The recently commisioned ATB refinery houses oil product storage tanks, which can store products like gasoline and fuel oil.

The new tanks will allow the company to import bitumen from different regions into Tanjung Bin and blend into varying bitumen grades. The cargoes can then be re-exported into the region or sold into Malaysia’s domestic market.

Vitol is a key trader and supplies nearly 1.4 mn t/yr of bitumen globally. Within the Asia Pacific region, the trader is known to export substantial bitumen volumes to Australia and other key markets.

Vitol also owns a growing fleet of bitumen tankers which are used to deliver cargoes globally. The firm ordered two new 37,000 deadweight tonne bitumen tankers in 2021 to be delivered this year.

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