Jakarta: Germany’s Oiltanking together with its joint-venture partner Gunvor Group will construct a green field terminal on the island of Karimun in Indonesia. The facility, which will have an initial storage capacity of 760,000 cu m, is being built “to meet the incremental storage needs of the Singapore trading area”, the German company said in a release. Oiltanking Karimun will be managed and operated by Oiltanking as an independent commercial storage facility. Gunvor will take a minority equity stake and rent part of the capacity.

“While Singapore's storage capacity has been growing steadily over the last decade, further growth is hampered by the scarcity of waterfront and lack of land available for new expansions,” Oiltanking noted. Karimun’s location is “ideal”, Oiltanking claimed, due to its proximity to Jurong Island, Singapore's industrial petroleum and petrochemical hub, and the existing ship-to-ship operations off the coast of Karimun, its favorable nautical conditions and availability of ready-to-build land.  

The terminal, which is expected to be operational by the second quarter of 2015, will cater to the storage and handling of both clean petroleum products and black oil. The initial capacity will be supported by four jetties capable of accommodating vessels of up to VLCC dimensions.  [13/06/13]