April 26, 2012 [Reuters] - Vopak, the world's largest independent storage tank operator, is due to start operations at Southeast Asia's first facility to store crude for trading by early 2014, with the project expected to cost $620 million.
The storage terminal in southern Malaysia is close to where a $20 billion petroleum hub is planned in Johor state which borders Singapore – the largest oil trading hub in Asia.
The new 1.3 million cubic metre storage terminal, which is being built in Pengerang, on the tip of southern Malaysia, is on track to commence in early 2014 and represents Phase I, Patrick van der Voort, president of Vopak Asia, told a ground breaking ceremony on Thursday.
“There are many different types of crudes that are coming here and in combination with the different level of requirements from various refineries, (we) see the opportunities for storage and blending,” he told Reuters on the sidelines of the ceremony.
The project is being developed jointly with Malaysia’s Dialog Group and the Johor state government.
Ngau Boon Keat, executive chairman of Dialog Group, put the cost of the project at 1.9 billion ringgit ($620 million) and said 80 percent of its capacity had been committed to customers.
About 420,000-430,000 cubic metres or around 33 percent of the capacity at the new terminal will be dedicated to crude storage. The remaining storage will be used for refined fuels like gasoil, gasoline and aviation fuel.
The Vopak project is being built in the same area where Malaysia’s Petronas is eyeing construction of an integrated petroleum hub that includes a state-of-the-art oil refinery with a capacity of 300,000 barrels per day (bpd).
