Guatemala plans to build a hydrocarbon processing plant with a storage capacity of 103,000 gallons of crude oil, diesel, bunker, reprocessing, mineral solvent, and naphtha.
CentralAmericaData's Commercial section provides an updated list of public and private construction projects that have submitted Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) to the respective institutions in each country.
The construction of an oil pipeline and a maritime terminal in the Pacific for the transfer and storage of fuels, are some of the projects planned to develop the state-owned Recope in the next eight years in Costa Rica.
The construction of a new plant for storage and sale of clean products in Liberia, and the polyduct connecting this plant with Barranca, is one of the large-scale projects that the Costa Rican Petroleum Refinery (Recope) plans to develop in the coming years.
In the Panamanian airport, 600 thousand gallons of jet fuel are consumed every day, and it is estimated that in the following months demand will increase by 50 thousand gallons.
The current capacity of the infrastructure only allows for storage of 1.4 million gallons of jet fuel, which is only enough to cover demand corresponding to two days of operations at the airport.
The Panamanian Supreme Court of Justice has revoked the resolution that had approved the environmental impact study to build an oil pipeline that would supply fuel to Tocumen airport.
The ruling by the Supreme Court of Justice comes just a few days after the same institution received aninjunction against a project to build a port terminal on Isla Margarita, Colón, with an estimated investment of $600 million. Also annulled by the Court, in mid-January, was an EIA to set up a150 MW wind farm, which was to be built in the Fortuna forest reserve.
The consortium FCC and Felguera IHI won the contract to build an oil storage terminal belonging to the Dutch company Vopak in Bahia Las Minas, province of Colon.
From a statement issued by FCC Construction:
The new terminal will be located next to the existing Chevron terminal of 509,000 mbc (thousand of barrels of crude) in Panama.It will have nine storage tanks for marine oil, fuel oil and clean petroleum products (diesel, gasoline and Jet A) with a total capacity of approximately 360,000 m3.The project also includes new tank, additional marine infrastructure, including the construction of wharves for mooring vessels up to 80,000 DWT (deadweight tons).
So far this year Chevron has invested $8 million in the opening of three stations and plans to start expanding the storage terminal in Acajutla.
The project to expand the storage terminal operating in Acajutla consists in increasing capacity"... by about 150 thousand barrels of fuel with the operation of two other tanks which will come online next year." Currently the plant has six tanks for diesel and gasoline, with a storage capacity of 300,000 gallons.
Total fuel storage capacity in the country is 29.8 million barrels, with Petroterminal de Panama´s tank representing 50% of the figure.
Panama has a storage capacity of 29.8 million barrels of oil, according to the latest report from the country's National Energy Secretariat.
The Fuel Free Zone (ZLC by its initials in Spanish) Petroterminal de Panama occupies almost half of the total capacity, through its two tank estates: Charco Azul in Chiriqui, which has a capacity of 7.5 million barrels, and Chiriqui Grande in Bocas del Toro, with a capacity of 7 million barrels. Both store oil and oil derivatives.
Construction has been announced of 9 additional storage tanks and a pier with two berths to supply 2.5 million barrels.
From a statement issued by the National Secretariat of Energy in Panama:
The sale of marine fuel or bunkering, an activity that generates about $900 million a year to the country's economy, will grow with the expanding operations of the Free Zone for Fuels, located in Bahía Las Minas, Colon Province.
The multinational Maple Resources Corporation has acquired the fuel plant operating in Puerto San Jose, called Terminal Carburantes de Centroamérica.
The US company which operates internationally also announced that in the next five years it will invest $10 million more in operating the fuel terminal.
S21.com.gt reports that "... the Escuintleca plant is a terminal whose standards of construction, operations and management, make it one of the most competitive in the region, which is in addition to its strategic position and capacity that exceeds half a million barrels of storage distributed in 13 specialized tanks, informed the company. "
The rise in prices and fuel supply problems in markets like Colombia explain the 10% increase in sales of bunker fuel in the first half of the year.
After experiencing a slight decrease in the rate of business growth, companies engaged in the storage and sale of marine or bunker fuel say they feel there is an improvement in the activity. In previous years, vessels transiting the Canal were buying fuel in Colombia and other Caribbean countries.
The tender documents may have been "managed" so that only a single operator could prove compliance with the conditions of experience in the field.
Puma Energy and Chevron have requested that the tender for the concession for the construction and operation of a jet fuel terminal be repeated, arguing anomalies in the concession process.
The company which was declared the winner in this contest was Terminales del Atlántico S.A.
The bill which aims to reduce the sulfur content in diesel and gasoline would give importers and distributors up to 12 months to renegotiate supply contracts once it comes into effect.
From a statement issued by the National Assembly of Panama:
The National Assembly will be legislating on a bill which aims to reduce the sulfur content in diesel fuel and gasoline for motor vehicles distributed in Panama, based on international standards, seeking to minimize environmental pollution and lengthen human life and the lifespan of cars.
The company aims to increase its market share in the country and plans to invest $80 million in the construction of a fuel storage facility.
The company is preparing to build its own infrastructure in order to increase its business in the Panamanian market. Besides the construction of the plant, Puma Energy is looking to venture into new lines of business, such as selling jet fuel and asphalt manufacturing and lubricants.
The company received the authorization to expand the jet fuel plant in Comalapa and plans to invest $20 million between 2015 and 2016 to improve the capacity of the plant in Acajutla.
Expansion of the terminal near the Comalapa airport will cost approximately $1 million and will allow for storage of up to 16,000 barrels of jet fuel to meet demand from the airlines with which it holds contracts.
The Spanish company DF Duro Felguera in Panama will be building a terminal for oil storage for the company Vopak in Bahia Las Minas, province of Colon.
From a statement issued by DF DURO FELGUERA:
DF has been awarded, through its subsidiary Felguera IHI, a contract for the execution of a fuel supply terminal for ships and oil storage at Bahia Las Minas (Colon Province), on the Atlantic coast of Panama.