The jetty at Statoil's Kalundborg refinery in Denmark and the channel leading to it are being deepened to accept larger crude carriers.
This means lower freight charges and reduces feedstock costs for the facility, which lies in west Zealand.
A new storage tank holding 470,000 barrels of crude is also being built, and these three projects carry a total price tag of roughly DKK 130 million.
Work on deepening the 10-kilometre channel from 13.5 to 15 metres began in April, with about a million cubic metres of spoil due to be removed from the seabed.
The outermost section, extending some nine kilometres, should be completed this week. The whole 100-metre-wide channel is scheduled to be ready in early July.
A deepwater jetty has been established jointly just outside the refinery perimeter by the Port of Kalundborg and Statoil, and leased to the group.
Statoil is currently installing unloading equipment on this facility, which will also come into operation during July – six months ahead of schedule.
"The deepwater quay will only be fully utilised when the new crude oil storage tank becomes available in the first quarter of 2001," reports refinery boss Egil Sæl.