January 12, 2017 [OPIS] - BioUrja Trading of Houston, Texas, said late on Tuesday that it has completed the $5.6 million acquisition of the Port Allen terminal facility in West Baton Rouge, La., from Murphy Energy Corp. through a bankruptcy auction process conducted on Dec. 19 2016.
Murphy started construction of the Port Allen facility in 2015, but the project was halted prior to Murphy’s bankruptcy filing. BioUrja expects to complete the facility within the next six to nine months. Once complete, Port Allen will be a premier truck and rail terminal, along with product storage, which is designed to act as a receipt point to offload specification products for sale to the local markets and NGL mix as a feedstock for the Baton Rouge fractionator.
BioUrja’s CEO Amit Bhandari said that “this acquisition is a great strategic fit with our current multi-commodity trading, marketing and logistics platform. The partial construction also allows us the flexibility to build out the terminal to reflect current and future market needs in order to best serve customers.”
Besides the Port Allen terminal, BioUrja is the stalking horse bidder of the assets of bankrupt Bakken crude logistics company Dakota Plains Holdings, which filed for voluntary Chapter 11 proceeding in December 2016.
Dakota Plains had filed a motion with the Bankruptcy Court to approve a sale of substantially all of the company’s assets to BioUrja for $8.55 million. BioUrja’s asset purchase agreement will require Bankruptcy Court approval and be subject to higher or better offers. The sale process is supported by SunTrust Bank and will require Bankruptcy Court approval.
While BioUrja is the most successful bidder in the pre-auction, the auction for Dakota Plains assets is scheduled for Jan. 23. A stalking horse bid typically sets a floor value for the assets on sale. BioUrja will participate in the Jan.
23 auction.
Dakota Plains is an integrated midstream energy company operating the Pioneer terminal transloading facility. The Pioneer terminal is located in Mountrail County, N.D., for Bakken and Three Forks development and production activity.
The BioUrja Group supplies and trades physical commodities, including biofuels, petroleum products, crude oil, natural gas, electric power, metal alloys, grains and animal feed products. Founded in 2006, BioUrja is among the four largest privately held companies in Houston, Texas, the company said.
Meanwhile, Tulsa, Okla.-based midstream company Murphy Energy Corp. sold its Port Hudson and Kingfisher terminals in Louisiana and Oklahoma to NGL Energy Partners for $51 million. Murphy’s crude terminals, located in north Texas and Oklahoma, were purchased by Tauber Oil Company for $3 million.
Murphy Energy was founded in 1993 and it filed for bankruptcy in Texas on Oct. 4, 2016.
Murphy Energy Corporation is not related to Murphy Oil or Murphy USA.
