News 63
The 4th international experience exchange programme – Oil Terminal Management: Logistics for Traders – takes place in Amsterdam from 1-3 June 2016.
This workshop series focuses on ports and terminals, traders and major oil companies, logistics companies and service providers who need to get up-to-date knowledge of terminal design, new technologies and features of this market.
The programme includes on-site visits to terminals – the Ports of Amsterdam and Rotterdam and the terminals of Royal Vopak Europort, Botlek Tank and Oiltanking Amsterdam B.V. at Odfjell Rotterdam.
On the second day there will be a networking session with key personnel from terminals and ports with Louis Monninkhof, business development director at the Port of Rotterdam and Port of Amsterdam’s head of cluster energy, Femke Brenninkmeijer both speaking. Gordon McManus, research director, refining & oil product markets at Wood Mackenzie and Ciaran Roe, Analytic, Platts will also be presenting.
Leaders from the following terminals will also be present
l-r Tommy Vickers, HOYER operations manager Valero Into-plane operation with members of the driving team – Joe Gilmore, Des Byrne, Trevor Blanche, John Stynes, Greg Byrne and Karl Burke – Dublin airport
HOYER Petrolog has retained its Into-Plane refuelling operation with Valero at Dublin airport with a three-year extension to its current deal.
Allan Davison, operations director said: “The extension of this contract is excellent news for HOYER and secures a strategically important piece of business within Ireland.
“Our excellent relationship with Valero extends back to 2000 and we are excited about the opportunities the next three years offers.”
The contract involves refuelling planes during all hours of airport operation and involves 10 refuelling vehicles and 28 staff.
In March 2016 HOYER took over the task of delivering to more than 200 TOTAL service stations in West and North Germany; since February the company has also been supplying TOTAL fuels to stations in Bremen and in the Ruhr district and Emsland region.
The first in a series of diesel shipments are now being stored on site at Thames Oilport. A joint venture between Greenergy and Shell, Greenergy now owns two thirds with Shell retaining its one third shareholding
Last Wednesday (6th April) Thames Oilport took receipt of the first in a series of diesel shipments to be stored on site. The arrival of these shipments is a major milestone that brings fuel into the terminal for the first time since the closure of the Coryton refinery.
The development of Thames Oilport is being carried out in phases. The current phase brings into use 176,000 cbm of tankage, which Greenergy will use for diesel storage to take advantage of the contango market conditions. It follows extensive refucrbishment of tanks in the east part of the site ranging in size from 24-39,000 cbm, as well as redevelopment and automation of a complex pumping exchange and a network of piping connecting the tanks to the Thames jetty. At this stage of Thames Oilport’s development, fuel is being moved into and out of the terminal by ship.
The works have been carried out by the team employed at Thames Oilport, supported by contractors carrying out a range of specialist functions including engineering, fabrication, cable installation, piping modifications and tank repair. This site-experienced team will now continue to work to complete the next phase, adding a further 64,000 cbm of sotage by the third quarter of 2016.
“Everyone here is delighted to have oil back on the site at last,” said Chris Brookhouse, chief executive of Thames Oilport who joined Greenergy in January 2105 as director of infrastructure.
“There has been a lot of activity to prepare for this day and there’s a lot more still to do. We have a route-map to continue to develop the facility, and we’ll be bringing more tankage into use by the end of the year and adding more capability thereafter.”www.greenergy.com
More calls for a boiler scrappage scheme to improve air quality. Photo: andykirby79
A broader boiler scrappage scheme is being recommended to improve air quality, following a recently published report from Policy Exchange and King’s College London.
Recognising the benefit of the Boris Boilers scheme launched in February 2016, the report said this welcome start needed to be expanded and refocused in order to maximise benefits in terms of air quality.
The report Up In The Air: How to Solve London’s Air Quality Crisis: Part 2’ suggests a scrappage scheme with a target of replacing 500,000 boilers in London by 2020 and for all boilers to meet the ultra low NOx by 2025.
The suggestion was welcomed by the Heating & Hot Water Industry Council where director Stewart Clements, said: “Despite its significance, combustion from boilers and cookers has until now, rarely been considered when discussing air quality. We know that there are approximately 9 million inefficient boilers in UK homes, contributing to both carbon emissions and poor air quality.
“The delivery of boiler scrappage schemes is tried, tested and successful. This new report recognises this and advocates the creation of a robust boiler scrappage scheme. It calls for grants to be offered to homes and business to upgrade their heating systems. I hope this new report will assist in kick starting a proper and full debate on air pollution and its effects.”
Fuel Oil News is disappointed to report that although Boris included both oil and gas boilers in his scrappage scheme, this one seems to focus only on the latter…. .http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/publications/category/item/up-in-the-air-how-to-solve-london-s-air-quality-crisis-part-2
Formed by Macquarie Capital and Greenergy earlier this year, Navigator Terminals offers customers unique storage solutions for crude, petroleum, chemicals, liquefied gas, bitumen and biofuel products at strategic locations at major UK ports including Seal Sands on Teesside pictured here
Navigator Terminals has completed the acquisition of Royal Vopak’s UK facilities at West Thurrock (Thames), Seal Sands (Teesside) and Windmill (Barry, South Wales) and Greenergy North Tees from Greenergy.
Through these acquisitions, Navigator has an initial storage capacity of approximately 1.5 million cubic metres, making it the UK’s largest independent bulk liquid storage provider.
Ian Cochrane has been appointed chief executive of the new venture. He joins from Vopak UK where he was managing director and brings over 40 years’ experience in the global oil and chemical industries. He will be working with an experienced team managing the terminals and ensuring that the company maintains and improves on the services delivered to existing and future customers.
Following the completion of the acquisition, Ian said: “Our priority is to ensure the safe and efficient operation of our facilities and to provide the highest levels of quality and customer service.
“We will continue to invest in infrastructure to enable us to maintain these priorities and ensure our customers are able to grow and succeed with Navigator.”www.navigatorterminals.com
“We continue to innovate, adapt and improve: we continue to focus on the detail and we continue to care,” said Gerald Ronson who recently celebrated 50 years in the retail industrySuzanne Plunkett 2016©.
With a mantra of retail is detail Gerald Ronson launched his first Heron branded petrol station in St Albans on 24th March 1966; last week he held a lunch to celebrate his 50-year milestone in retail.
“What we created in 1966 was revolutionary,” said Gerald who is now in his late seventies has since built over 1,000 service stations.
“Our combination of service, quality and low prices meant that when we opened our first station in St Albans in 1966, we had queues of cars for half a mile waiting to fill up at four shillings and 10 pence (old money) a gallon.”
Rontec, which incorporates Snax24, now operates over 220 sites across England and Wales and has a £1 billion plus turnover.
It was Ronson’s acquisition of Total UK’s retail network of 810 service stations that signalled his return to the sector in scale. Having made the acquisition, Rontec immediately sold non-core elements – DCC took 300 wholesale sites, the railheads went back to Total with UK pipelines sold to Valero. Shell took 254 retail sites leaving Rontec with 250 sites plus cash.
“When I started there were around 38,000 filling stations in the UK; now there are fewer than 9,000, with just four remaining in central London,” said Gerald.
“Petrol retailing is in my DNA, and whilst it is my hobby, it is a business that I am deadly serious about,” said Gerald.
“I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved but watch this space because our journey is not over yet.”www.rontec.com
Win an iPad mini 2 at FPS EXPO 2016 – to take part in the competition visit Mabanaft on stand number 39
Mabanaft’s competition at FPS EXPO always goes down well with visitors and this year the emphasis will be firmly on FUN.
Visitors to the Mabanaft stand will be invited to play an iPad game. Participants will get one practice run, then three goes at playing the game and their highest score will be recorded. At the end of the competition the person with the highest recorded score will win.
Since practice helps perfect this type of skill, avid gamers may be at an advantage. In order to redress the balance, one other participant’s name will be randomly selected to win the runner-up prize regardless of their score.
“We wanted to come up with something a bit different this year and we think the iPad game will prove very popular,” said marketing manager Martin Cook.
“I’ve tried the game out and it’s certainly addictive! The person with the highest score will win an iPad mini 2 and there will be a fabulous box of Hotel Chocolat chocolates for the runner up.”
Visit Mabanaft on stand 39 where a member of the team will take your details, record your top score and give you a bag of goodies as a thank you for taking part.
The competition closes at 1.30pm on Thursday 21st April, the last day of the show. The winner and runner up will be announced and prizes awarded at 2.00pm.www.mabanaft.co.uk
From companies with more than 40 years’ experience to recently established businesses, the latest information on the industry’s products/services can be found at next week’s FPS EXPO in Liverpool.
“We know that ethane from US shale gas has transformed US manufacturing and we are now a step closer to seeing this advantage being brought here to Grangemouth.”Petroineos Fuels will be exhibiting at FPS EXPO 2016
Eight years after being mothballed, INEOS has confirmed that it has successfully completed operational trials on the second manufacturing unit (Train 2) of its gas cracker at Grangemouth. In 2008 the KG ethylene cracker was unable to operate at full capacity and INEOS was left with no option but to close the second manufacturing unit.
“These new vehicles will give our customers the ability to react to a changing market place,” says Wincanton’s managing director Chris Fenton
Wincanton will be showcasing its new EnergyLink service at next month’s FPS EXPO.
EnergyLink is a UK-wide network to support greater flexibility in delivery services for the energy sector and will be on show alongside other products and services which Wincanton provides to the bulk sector.
The launch of EnergyLink will be accompanied by a £5m investment in new assets to provide greater capacity in its growing bulk tanker division in the energy sector. The new equipment is expected to be rolled out in the first quarter of this year and will have a UK wide presence.
The services for the fuels, bitumen and oils markets will be available through a flexible contracting model, underpinned by the safety and service credentials established by Wincanton in these markets for more than five decades.
“Having worked in fuel and bulk since the 1970s, we have the knowledge to understand what it takes to stay ahead of the curve,” said managing director Chris Fenton.
We actively seek to develop and utilise innovative new technologies that add value for our customers and deliver greater efficiencies.”
“Through increasing our tanker fleet in the energy sector as well as consistently improving our driver training, we’re addressing the needs of our customers for both today and tomorrow, working on a collaborative basis to ensure that our fleet remains fuel efficient and effective. These new vehicles will give our customers the ability to react to a changing market place.”www.wincanton.co.uk
The new venue – FPS EXPO 2016 takes place on Wednesday 20th & Thursday 21st April at the new Exhibition Centre, Liverpool to register for a FREE place visit www.fpsshow.co.uk
With a new venue and an increase in exhibition space, FPS EXPO 2016 has seen exhibition spaces filled faster than ever says the Federation of Petroleum Suppliers.
“We’re seeing lots of new companies exhibiting at FPS EXPO as well as companies, which have not exhibited for a number of years, now returning to the show and many are booking much larger stands due to the space available at the new venue,” said Dawn Shakespeare, FPS marketing and events manager.
Argent Energy UK, Netwatch Systems, Carbery Plastics, Binboy, British Engineering Services, Ecom Instruments UK, IMA, Fairbanks Environmental, Oriel Systems and WEC Leeds are among the new exhibitors.
Some of the biggest names operating in the manufacturing, supply, distribution and technology sectors across the UK and Europe are confirmed including Scania, Wincanton, MAN Truck and Bus, Philips 66, RTN, Kingspan Environmental, Hytek, Emco Wheaton, Pen Underwriting incorporating OAMPS, Williams Tankers, Valero Energy and Mabanaft.
FPS EXPO 2016 takes place on Wednesday 20th & Thursday 21st April at the new Exhibition Centre, Liverpool to register for a FREE place visit www.fpsshow.co.uk.
Delighted to have secured the Welcome Break contract, Fairbanks will also be among the exhibitors at FPS EXPO 2016
Welcome Break has signed a three-year contract with Fairbanks for the wetstock management of its 31 petrol filling stations which supply Shell, Texaco and BP branded fuels.
Within a few weeks of engaging the Fairbanks service, Welcome Break encountered an issue at a BP site. Reacting instantly, Fairbanks contacted the site by phone, email and text to ensure that the problem was brought to the immediate attention of relevant personnel.
“I was very impressed with Fairbanks’ quick response,” said Helen Rounce, forecourt operations manager for Welcome Break.
“Within a very short time of the incident occurring, the site received a call from one of Fairbanks’ analysts to raise the alarm and provide practical advice – a complete step change from what we’d experienced with our previous provider. This certainly fills me with confidence that the service delivery from Fairbanks will be of a very high calibre.”
“We’re delighted to have secured the Welcome Break contract,” said Matthew Lloyd, Fairbanks UK sales manager.
“I’m confident that we will provide an excellent service to Helen and her forecourt network for many years to come.”
More than 13,000 stations in 35 countries now benefit from Fairbanks solutions via licensees using the Fairbanks system to manage wetstock across Europe, Canada, Asia and Australia.www.fairbanksglobal.com
StocExpo 2017 takes place on 28-30 March 2017 – for more information email nick@stocexpo.com
Record numbers attended StocExpo 2016 in Antwerp earlier this month; the event has seen a 13% increase in visitor numbers since 2013.
“Once again StocExpo has surpassed all our expectations,” said Nick Powell, StocExpo & Tank Storage portfolio event manager.
“The quality of visitors, which included major names such as Shell, Oiltanking, BP, ExxonMobil, Vopak and LBC Tank Terminals, was exceptional.
“And we’re thrilled to announce that 72% of our 150 exhibitors rebooked stands live on the show floor, highlighting just how important the event is for suppliers and buyers.
“We far exceeded our own expectations as to how busy we would be, in terms of quality visitors expressing real and current demands for our products and services,” said Alec Keeler, managing director, Loadtec Engineered Systems.
Euan Fisher, business development manager at Fort Vale, agreed: “The launch of our new loading arm, Safeload, attracted a large amount of visitors which resulted in some significant future enquiries.”
With its mix of global and local talks, Nick Powell reported that this year’s conference programme had received great delegate feedback. Among the speakers was Accenture’s Eduard J. Smits who discussed the convergence of IT and OT in terminal operations.”
“As much as we might not like it, data is becoming more important to us every day,” said Eduard. “We need to adjust to today’s real-time processes, and create a culture where everyone within an organisation trusts each other, in order to move forward.”
Exhibitors also used the show to launch new products – a new range of mobile vapour combustors from Endegs, Chubb Ajax unveiled its E-FOAM systems; Implico previewed its new OpenTAS and Scully Systems which also celebrated its 80th anniversary at the show, displayed its new Intellitrol2 overfill prevention, static ground proving and vehicle identification control system.
For more information email nick@stocexpo.com
New tankers for Gleaner Oils which has around 16,000 regular business customers
Family-owned Gleaner Oils has reported a year of real progress during which it undertook a high level of investment in its sites, tanker fleet, IT systems and staffing as it began to implement a new 5-year growth strategy.
Phil Wright, former chairman of the Airport Energy Group, who retired last year, takes a spin in the new 100% electric powered van
The latest addition to the fleet at Airport Energy is an electric powered vehicle.
Livingbridge, a mid-market private equity business, has invested in BoilerJuice.
“The Northampton bunker site is a logistical godsend for our business”, said Dave Corden, transport manager at Panther Warehousing
Following an intensive three-month redevelopment project Certas Energy has reopened its key bunkering facility on the outskirts of Northampton, increasing the number of operational bunker sites to 13.
“Our team is always available to discuss options and we remain keen to grow our retail network,” said SB Prasad, Essar’s chief commercial officer, retail
This month Essar Oil (UK) opened its fourth UK retail site at Sale in Cheshire.
Find an OFTEC registered technician at www.oftec.org.uk/Consumers/FindTechnician
In the wake of an oil tank fire which destroyed a bungalow in Belvoir, Belfast last week, OFTEC has again issued safety advice to householders.
It says something about the current oil market that the conflagration between Saudi Arabia and Iran at the beginning of the year, generated little more than a slight upward blip in prices. Ditto the muted market reaction to an apparent hydrogen bomb test by comedy Teletubby leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un. As recently as 2013, these kind of events would have sent prices sky-rocketing. But such is the current level of over-supply in the oil markets that prices only momentarily headed up, before continuing their relentless drive downwards. The only clear conclusion can be that – however bad things are in the world – geo-political concerns are very much playing second fiddle to the basic dynamics of supply and demand.
The new Essar brand – breaking into the UK’s retail market
Essar Oil UK entered the UK retail market in November 2015; last month the refiner opened its third site at Middleton in Lancashire.
For full details or to book a place at Transport Manager Northern Ireland call the FTA Member Service Centre on 03717 11 22 22
The FTA’s Transport Manager seminar takes place at Titanic Belfast next week.
“Cloud solutions are more future-proof than any in-house solution in the world,” says Michael Martens, managing partner at Implico.
Implico’s iGOS cloud solution has successfully processed 1,000,000,000 litres of fuel for DCC’s French gas station network.
Four key organisations are calling for the Budget to include a key measure to help consumers cut carbon emissions and reduce fuel bills.