LPG in Vlora

VLORA, June 3 – Albanian authorities inaugurated the end of a 60 million euro project to build a terminal for the LPG liquid gas deposits at the Vlora Bay.
The terminal will serve to transport the gas between Italy and Albania, according to Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha and Italian Deputy Minister for Economic Development Adolfo Urso.
The terminal was built by an Italian company, Pir Group, founded in 1920 and considered a leader in the area of port logistics. It has deposits in the coastal ports of Ravenna, Genoa, and Zarzis in Tunisia. It is also specializes in storage and handling of petroleum products, chemicals and foodstuffs.
It is expected to promote the cooperation in the oil and liquid gas transport between the two countries and also to facilitate the export of Albanian oil.
The terminal fills a void in the logistics system in Albania, which for some years had a phase of strong economic growth but still has no proper facilities for the import and distribution of petroleum, providing the industry with an independent logistics internationally and allowing to optimize the import of petroleum products with high-tonnage ships.
The terminal is designed to have a minimal environmental impact, said Urso, adding it will also serve to facilitate the transport of the LPG to nine million people in Albania, Montenegro, Kosova, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and northern Greece.
Vlora is set to be turned into a gateway to the Balkans and the Adriatic, thanks also to the favorable positioning with respect to the main center of the Mediterranean refineries.
The storage capacity will be about 55,000 m3 per oil and 4,000 m3 LPG. The port is designed to accommodate ships of up to 20,000 tons in the first phase and beyond 30,000 tons in the subsequent stages.