Kuwait Petroleum and the Port of Rotterdam sign an agreement
The Kuwait Petroleum and the Port of Rotterdam Tuesday signed an agreement to renews the lease of the land of KP refinery in Rotterdam, known as Kuwait Petroleum Europort, for another 25 years, KUNA reports.
Wael Salmeen, Managing Director KPE, told the Kuwait news agency, that Kuwait had bought the refinery in Rotterdam in 1983.
"The land lease that we have expired last December. After thorough negotiations with the port of Rotterdam, we got a very good rate for the land, " he told KUNA after signing the lease agreement with the CEO of Rotterdam port Hans Smits Tuesday afternoon.
"It took eight months of tough negotiations. We hired a legal firm to support us and I am very pleased with the outcome of the lease. This is a commitment from the KPE that we are committed to stay at the site and it is a commitment for port of Rotterdam to support the investment that we plan to do, " said Salmeen.
He said the KP is planning to invest about USD 880 million in the Orange Project to upgrade and modernise its refinery in Rotterdam.
He noted that the KP board has approved to conduct the feed study and Salmeen said they are going to complete the study by end of next March and in April they will go back to the KPC board for approval for the engineering and procurement phase.
"If we get the approval then the estimation is that by April 2016 we will commission the project," he added.
On his part, Jaap van Dalen, business manager of the Rotterdam Port, said the KP refinery, one of the four refineries at Rotterdam port, is a "very import refinery." "Liquid bulk is about 45 percent in our total port through put. The fact that we have a number of refineries in Rotterdam is very important to us," he told KUNA.
