Handling of petroleum products by KN (AB Klaipėdos nafta), an operator of oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, reached 671,000 tonnes in July, a 21.6 % increase, comparing to 552,000 tones in July 2016. KN says it is also one of the best results for July in the company’s history.
The year-on-year increase in the handling volumes in July has been determined by a larger cargo turnover at the tank truck filling facility due to its modernization and a growing flow of heavy petroleum products from Byelorussian oil refineries. This has resulted in higher income for the company: it is estimated that income of KN‘s terminals totaled EUR 3.4 million in July (a 41,7 % year-on-year increase).
In total, almost 4 million tons of cargoes were transferred to KN‘s storage tanks in January-July. During the same period of last year, the handling volumes were 21% larger (almost 5 million tons). The difference is mainly due to the reduced flow of transit cargoes from Byelorussian oil refineries in 1Q which was determined by the limited supply of crude oil from Russia to Byelorussia.
In July this year the LNG terminal regassified 1.668 m MWh of natural gas and supplied to the natural gas transmission system (July 2016: 1.012 m MWh). In January – July this year, the regassification and handling volumes totaled 6.536 m MWh compared to 10.220 m MWh in the same period last year. The difference resulted from lower capacities ordered by the terminal‘s users.
‘In July we saw a nearly 22% growth in the cargo flows through KN‘s oil terminals, mainly due to the increased transit flow which we managed to generate by attracting additional cargoes. It was also a very intensive period for the Klaipėda oil terminal‘s tank truck filling facility. To sum up, the start of the second half-year period appears optimistic and the company is making every effort to secure cargo flows in the implementation of investment projects and to ensure a competitive market environment‘, says Mindaugas Jusius, the General Manager of AB Klaipėdos Nafta.
The estimated income of the company for the period of January – July this year is EUR 61.3 million, i. e. a 6.2 % decrease compared with the same period of last year. Income of the oil terminals totaled EUR 20.8 million (2016: EUR 25.8 million), whereas the LNG terminal earned EUR 40.5 million (+2.3% compared to the same period of last year).