Brightoil Petroleum (Holdings) Limited is pleased to announce that the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has granted approval to Zhoushan Brightoil Terminal Co Ltd to develop oil storage and terminal facilities with capacities of more than 10,000 DWT at Ningbo-Zhoushan Port in the Laotangshan Port Zone at Waidiao Island, China, which serves as a key supporting project for the Group’s storage and transshipment base in Zhoushan.
The NDRC has granted approval for a total length of berths amounting to 1,395 meters in the terminal project. With a designed annual capacity of 32.9 million tons, the project will be equipped with four berths which can accommodate vessels of 300,000 DWT, 100,000 DWT, 50,000 DWT and 20,000 DWT, respectively. With the construction contract signed with China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau in June this year to build the first phase of oil storage facilities on Waidiao Island in Zhoushan, construction of Brightoil’s storage and transshipment base in Zhoushan is in full progress.
Brightoil’s storage and transshipment base is located on Waidiao Island in the Zhoushan Island Archipelago New Area in Zhoushan City, Zhejiang Province. With a total capacity of 3.16 million cubic meters in oil tanks, the facility will be equipped with 13 berths which can accommodate vessels from 1,000 to 300,000 DWT. The total investment for the storage and transshipment base has reached approximately US$1 billion, and construction will be completed in two phases. With an estimated capacity of 1.94 million cubic meters, Phase 1 is expected to commence commercial operation around the end of 2014. Phase 2 has an estimated capacity of 1.22 million cubic meters. Commercial operation is projected to commence around the first half of 2015 upon completion of construction.
Dr SIT Kwong Lam, chairman and chief executive officer of the Group, said, “Leveraging its strategic geographic location, the project will generate stable rental income for the Group and will enable synergies with the Group’s International Trading and Bunkering business and Marine Transportation business for better economies of scale. It will also contribute significantly to the Group’s operational performance on the whole by enhancing the quality and efficiency of its bunkering and crude trading business and will play an active role in the development of a national strategic oil reserve.” ♦