Crude oil transit storage commences at the Port of Gothenburg

The first vessels have now discharged crude oil into the underground cavern at the Port of Gothenburg. This will form the base for crude oil transit storage at the Tor Harbour, which is expected to increase present crude oil volumes substantially.

Jill Söderwall, head of the Business area Energy/Cruise at the Port of Gothenburg states: "It was very pleasing to see the first three vessels arrive and a further vessel is due at any time. By then the cavern will be filled and crude oil will be stored there until the time comes for onward transport to waiting markets."

The Oil transit business involves smaller vessels from, for example, the Baltic countries, put into the Port of Gothenburg. The crude oil is put into transit storage in a underground cavern and will be transported later to Asia, the USA and other markets using larger vessels. The Port of Gothenburg is one of the few ports in Scandinavia that can offer a deep-water harbour for crude oil along with transit storage for reloading onto larger tonnage.

To facilitate storage, the Port of Gothenburg, together with the storage company Scandinavian Tank Storage AB, is developing equipment at the Tor Harbour. The next step in this investment will be to construct a process facility with gas recycling. The facility is expected to be completed at the end of the year. The cost of these joint investments is in the region of SEK 200 million.

Claes Jacobsson, President of Scandinavian Tank Storage states: "We and our customer, a major international operator on the oil market, are extremely pleased that transport has commenced. The stock turnover depends on the market although we estimate a fourfold turnover each year."

At the present time around 9 million tonnes of crude oil are handled each year at the Tor Harbour. With the new facility now in use, an increase of 20-60 per cent is anticipated.

For further information, please contact Eva Jonasson, Media Relations Officer, Port of Gothenburg, tel. +46 31 731 22 45.