Russia cancels Rotterdam port oil deal worth €700 million

The construction of a large Russian oil storage terminal in the port of Rotterdam has been terminated, the Port Authority announced on Thursday after talks with the involved company Shtandart, a subsidiary of the Summa Group The initial plan was that 30 million tons of oil would be shipped through the Shtandart terminal annually. But over the past few months there were doubts about whether the Russian company would indeed be able to ship so much oil, AD reports. The Financieele Dagblad reported on Thursday that Summa pulled out of the plans due to lack of financing. Through the cancellation of this deal, the Port Authority is losing out on 700 million euros, NOS reports. The Russians would have paid 170 million euros over the next 30 years for the leasing of the property and the oil terminal would have produced 22 million in port charges a year. The construction of this terminal was announced in 2011 and the Port Authority handed the site over to Shtandart in 2013. The necessary building and environmental permits were issued earlier this year, but to no avail it seems. This means that the site is now once again available for another oil storage terminal. According to the Port of Rotterdam, there is demand for such a terminal as the oil transshipment is increasing.