The bridge from Caspian Sea to Black Sea: Middle East Petrol’s Dubendi Terminal
Dubendi Port (also known as Apsheron Port) is located at the Caspian Sea coast of Azerbaijan Republic, approximately 50 kilometers away from Baku. Dubendi Port, which was constructed in 1970s for receiving crude oil, remained almost idle following the collapse of Soviet Union. The port was reactivated in 1996 and has been working as a hub for transit transportation of Kazakh and Turkmen crude oil to Black Sea Ports of Georgia through Azerbaijan and Georgian territories. Storage and rail loading facilities are connected to the port, providing capability to transport significant volumes of Caspian crude oil to world markets.
In March 2002, Dubai based “Middle East Petrol” received the control of Dubendi terminal and accelerated the transit transportation.
Middle East Petrol storage facilities at Dubendi are organized under two main groups:
Crude Oil & Black Products: Total crude oil and black product storage capacity is 150 000 m3, consisted of 2 x 22.000m3, 4x20.000 m3 and 5x5000 m3 tanks. Heating system is available for crude oil and oil product types with high pour point.
Clean Products: Clean product tank farm is organized under 4 tank groups, 3 of them having 8 tanks and one having 7 tanks. Each clean product tank has a storage capacity of 5000 m3. Accordingly, the total clean product storage capacity is 155 000 m3.
Dubendi Port is a natural sea port located across Pirallahi Island, which acts as a breakwater. Pirallahi Island protects Dubendi Port from frequent strong wind and high waves of Caspian Sea, and this makes Dubendi Terminal a unique location as the receiving point of transit crude oil and oil products. The distant location of Dubendi Terminal to the city center and populated areas brings other advantages in terms of protection of the ecology and operational safety.
There are 2 operative berths in Dubendi Port, each of which can accommodate 2 vessels. Totally, 4 vessels can discharge their cargo simultaneously. Discharge of each vessel takes approximately 18 hours including measurements, customs and other formalities. Dubendi Port can receive 12.000 DWT vessels of Caspian Shipping Company, which are currently the biggest tankers in Caspian Sea. The sea bottom of Dubendi Port and the channel is sandy and can easily be dredged when necessary.
In the rail loading facility, 21x2 gantry is being used for crude oil and black products. By extending the rack, 18x2 clean product loading gantry was constructed and is fully operative since August 2002. 78 rail tank cars can be simultaneously loaded within two hours.
A total of seven pipelines connect the Dubendi Port to the rail loading facility. Two of these pipelines are used for crude oil and black products and the remaining five pipelines constructed by Middle East Petrol are used for clean products. Such organization of storage tanks, rail loading facility and connection pipelines enables Middle East Petrol to handle and transport many different grades at the same time, preserving the quality specifications of each grade due to full segregation.
As a result of intensive investments, the throughput capacity of Dubendi Terminal was doubled by Middle East Petrol in a short period of time to 7 million tons per year. Middle East Petrol aims to increase the throughput capacity of Dubendi Terminal to 10 million tons by investing further.
Pinpointing lack of rail tank cars necessary for transportation of crude oil and oil products on Trans-Caucasian route, Middle East Petrol signed agreements for the purchase of 1000 rail tank cars. These rail tank cars have steam jacket installed, enabling the transportation of crude oil and oil products with high pour point all around the year.
Middle East Petrol takes the delivery of crude oil and oil products at East Caspian Ports of Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, and transports the cargo for re-delivery to client at Black Sea Ports of Georgia. In addition, Middle East Petrol provides similar transportation services for Azeri Origin oil products from Baku to Black Sea.
Middle East Petrol recently signed a long term transportation agreement with major American oil company ChevronTexaco, and managed to include Veba Oil (now a part of BP) as well as international trading company Glencore and several regional traders into the client portfolio.
The President of Middle East Petrol, Mr. Abdolbari Goozal, states that providing first quality service and customer satisfaction are their priorities. Middle East Petrol aims to speed up investments in oil industry and become one of the key players of Caspian oil industry in the near future.