The contract is subject to customary conditions and obtaining regulatory approvals, whereby Vopak would take a 30% stake in the 560,000 m³ terminal, including the pipelines that connect the facility to the jetty and ExxonMobil’s complex. Vopak will also provide services for the terminal and jetty through a separate, wholly owned Vopak entity.

The greenfield facility will be located in Guangdong province in southern China, approximately 100 km from Hong Kong. It will serve a world-scale flexible feed steam cracker producing 1.2 million t/y ethylene and downstream PE/PP units that will be built and operated by ExxonMobil (Huizhou) Chemical in the Dayawan Petrochemical Industrial Park, which is one of China’s seven national petrochemical bases.

At the time of ExxonMobil’s announcement on the project in September 2018, start-up was planned for 2023. Vopak said the complex remains subject to a final investment decision. CEO Eelco Hoekstra said the project “fits perfectly into Vopak’s growth strategy for industrial terminals.”

Active in China since the start of the 1990s, Vopak has since set up a network of seven terminals in the country, either wholly owned or in different joint ventures.

Elsewhere in Asia, the company signed a letter of intent (LoI) last October with leading Indonesian petrochemical group Chandra Asri to collaborate in the industrial infrastructure business in Cilegon, Banten province. The companies were to explore storage opportunities in supply networks, to help grow existing petrochemical value chains and lay the foundations for an expanded industrial cluster.

The finalization of the LoI and setting up of a joint-venture company was subject to final terms and conditions, including customary regulatory and shareholder approvals. However, there has been no update on progress to date.

Vopak currently jointly owns (49%) and operates one oil terminal in Jakarta and one chemicals terminal in Merak (95% ownership).

Author: Elaine Burridge, Freelance Journalist