OREANDA-NEWS. November 08, 2011. VTTI, a company related to Ventspils nafta terminals (VNT) and one of the largest terminal operating companies in the world, in cooperation with Summa Group have signed a long-term agreement with the Port of Rotterdam, the largest port in Europe, on building and operating a new major crude oil and petroleum product terminal in the area exceeding 55 hectares in the Port. Vitol Group, co-owner of VTTI and one of the largest investors in Latvia, considers this a huge deal beneficial also for Latvia as it will positively affect the crude oil transit from Russia to Europe.

“At the moment VNT is one of the largest terminals related to VTTI Group with the capacity of 1.2 million cubic meters. We don’t see the new terminal in Rotterdam as our competitor, to the contrary, the terminal will strengthen our positions at the group level on the global oil market. As one of the biggest terminals related to the group we are ready to share our best practice on efficiency and high standards of work and environment safety,” says General Director of Ventspils nafta terminals (VNT) Lars Pantzlaff.

In the Port of Rotterdam it is planned to build approximately 3 million cubic meters of storage facilities allocated for Urals crude oil and petroleum products. Investments are expected to total up to approximately 1 bln USD (approx 0.5 bln LVL or 0.7 bln EUR). The new terminal will operate as an "open hub" terminal creating a trading platform for Urals crude oil.

After the initial permitting and design process, the construction work for the new terminal is expected to commence in 2013 resulting in an operational start-up in 2015.

Speaking about the agreement, Rob Nijst, CEO of VTTI, said: “VTTI has played a leading role in this new concept for developing a crude oil hub, which establishes the company as a major player in international crude logistics. This project is a major step for VTTI in enhancing its position in Rotterdam as well as in the global oil terminal industry, and in realizing ambitious plans for growth.”

VNT provides transit services - receipt, storage and loading of oil and petroleum products via pipelines, rail tank cars and tankers. VNT is the largest company in the region with the total tank storage capacity of 1.2 million cubic meters.

The shares of VNT are owned by 51% by one of the major holdings in the Baltic States – the public joint stock company Ventspils nafta (NASDAQ OMX RIGA: VNF1R), 49% of shares are owned by Eurotank Holding Sarl, which is related to the international terminal operating company VTTI. VTTI which is partly owned by Vitol group operates a network of 11 petroleum product terminals with a gross combined capacity of nearly 6 million cubic metres, which is set to expand to nearly 8 million cubic metres by 2013.