A new storage tank outside Stavanger gives Marketing a stronger edge in competing to deliver marine gas oil (MGO) to North Sea fields.
Located at the Aker Base facility in Dusavik, this 5,000 cubic metre installation is linked by pipelines to four berths. That allows a corresponding number of ships to load or bunker with MGO simultaneously.
Statoil deliveries of MGO to North Sea fields from this base were previously fetched from nearby Tananger by barge and pumped into the supply ships. When no barge was available, the vessels had to sail to Tananger to load or bunker this fuel.
The energy unit in Marketing signed a seven-year contract with the parent company last year to deliver MGO for Statoil's fields in the North Sea.
This deal covers an annual consumption of 177 million litres, with at least 40 million of these being supplied from the new storage facility.
Marketing competes on equal terms with other oil companies to supply MGO to Statoil's offshore operations.
"But we've much more available capacity now, and have already had enquiries from other companies," says sales manager Helge Husdal.
"Experience indicates that once you've established a tank facility, you're strongly placed to compete over sales to other users of the base."
Apart from the Dusavik tank, Statoil has its own storage arrangements at Coast Center Base outside Bergen, Fjord Base in Florø and Aker Vestbase in Kristiansund. The group also leases storage capacity at the north Norwegian Helgelandsbase in Sandnessjøen.
A total of 194 million litres of MGO were supplied from these bases to Statoil's operations off Norway. The bulk of deliveries derive from the Mongstad refinery operated by the group near Bergen.