January 19, 2011 [Financial Mirror] - VTTI, the joint venture between major energy trader Vitol and maritime giant MISC Berhad of Malaysia, marked the beginning of the construction work on its new oil import, storage and distribution terminal at Vassiliko with a ground breaking ceremony by House President Marios Garoyian.
The terminal, to be built by a joint venture of the Joannou & Paraskevaides Group, will see an initial investment of more than 100 mln euros employing around 1,000 people during construction and 50 people after completion by the end of 2012. During the last 20 years, J&P has been contracted by the largest petroleum companies for the construction of petrochemical installations, refineries and others, the most recently completed project being the Faregh fuel terminal in Libya.
Initial terminal capacity at the Vassiliko project (VTTV) will be 19 tanks with 340,000 cubic metres of storage for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, which will increase to 550,000cu.m. in the second phase of the project, raising the total investment in Cyprus to more than 200 mln euros.
“As well as playing an important part in supplying regional markets to meet growing energy demand, the Vassiliko terminal will also provide local employment, especially important during this time of global financial recession,” said VTTI’s CEO Rob Nijst.
“Establishing Cyprus as a major regional trading hub for the import and export of oil products, we are also confident that the expanded facility – after phase 2 – will provide more than sufficient capacity to cover the needs of Cyprus and bring competitive supplies of energy to its customers.”
