According to Kommersant, the Gunvor Group plans to become the terminal operator, but in that case, the trader will have to cover most of the costs of the project, in which $ 500 million have already been invested.

Coral Cay Pte Ltd (owned by the Gunvor Group) together with the German Oiltanking GmbH (controlled by the trader Marquard & Bahls AG) plan to get control over fuel oil terminal project by purchasing shares of PT Oiltanking Karimun, according to the preliminary notice of both companies published on the website of the European Commission. Currently Oiltanking GmbH owns 95% in the project. The parties refused to disclose the details of the transaction.

The idea of ​​building a fuel oil terminal on Karimun Islands (the group of islands in the South China Sea, off the coast of Malaysia and Singapore) is more than 20 years old. In 1992, the Indonesian press reported that the designers and contractors of the project will become Singaporean companies – Sembawang Group and Kuo Group, as well as two Indonesian companies, including Bangun Cipta Group. It was stated that the construction should be completed by 1995. The project was never realized.

In 2012 Oiltanking GmbH announced its intention to build a fuel oil terminal on the west coast of the Great Karimun Island, in the Free Trade Zone, next to PT KSS (Karimun Sembawang Shipyard). Memorandum of Understanding between Sven Martin Partschem, the Vice-President of Oiltanking GmbH, and Taufik Ilyas, the representative of the Free Trade Zone and the port of Karimun, was signed in May 2012. The area dedicated to ​​the project is 30 hectares. According to the company, Oiltanking has chosen the region because of its strategic location and close proximity to the Malacca Strait trade routes. Investment in the project has amounted to $ 500 million already. The projected terminal capacity and the total investment required are not disclosed.

According to the plans of Oiltanking GmbH, Karimun project should become the second largest of its assets. Koen Vernier, the Head of Oiltanking Asia Pacific, considers Karimun Islands to be a promising region. “In the nearest future the volumes of oil transported in the region will increase, and Karimun is a great opportunity to take on these additional volumes,” – he said at the beginning of January 2013, when the company announced completion of acquisition of Helios terminal in Singapore for $ 285 million from Chemoil Storage Ltd. Oiltanking owns already a terminal on Java Island, Indonesia.

According to Kommersant’s source familiar with the negotiations, the Gunvor Group is interested in becoming a terminal operator and receive at least a controlling stake.

Andrey Polishchuk, the analyst of Raiffeisenbank, is sure that if Gunvor Group will realize its plans, the trader will have to cover most of the project costs. However, adds the analyst, southeast of Asia is “a very promising” region for the trader, especially considering its’ relations with Russian oil companies (the company exports about 30% of Russian oil) and gas industry, whose intention to export to the region is growing every year.