The construction of four new tanks at the Kulevi oil terminal will begin this year, Ilgar Alizada, director of Black Sea Terminal, told Report.
He noted that the design is almost complete, and construction work will start in the near future.
He noted that the current capacity of the terminal’s tank farm is 407,000 cubic meters: “After the completion of the project, the total capacity will reach 487,000 cubic meters.”
Alizada also noted the growing demand for transshipment of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
“In cooperation with LUKOIL, we began direct transshipment of LPG in 2024, and this process continues. In parallel, the equipment is being modernized, and we have begun to develop a conceptual project for the construction of LPG storage tanks. Now this is an early stage – the feasibility study is still ahead. It is too early to talk about specific dates. Naturally, we do not lose sight of the prospects for the development of this area,” he explained.
Alizada emphasized that LPG has high growth potential as a transit product.
“Today, it accounts for about 5-6% of the total volume of transshipped oil products within the entire transport corridor, including Kulevi. With the development of infrastructure at the Kulevi terminal, this volume can double, to 600,000-700,000 tons per year. Such potential really exists,” he added.
He also said that the Kulevi terminal has seen a stable increase in the transportation of oil products for two years in a row, by 15% annually. In the first quarter of 2025, the growth was 7% compared to the same period last year, he noted.
“According to the results of 2024, the total transshipment volume reached 2.5 million tons per year. There is a tendency to further increase transit through the Middle Corridor,” Alizada added.
