Gold Magazine April - May 2013, Issue 25 | Page 45

investment

2.

I

n the midst of the most
severe financial crisis that
Cyprus has ever experienced, investments such
as the one that VTTI B.V.
is making at Vasilikos
through its wholly owned
subsidiary VTT Vasiliko,
is an excellent model for what can be done
in the immediate future to put the country
back on the path to growth. The international company which owns and operates
oil storage terminals around the world has
chosen Cyprus among all the countries of the
region to invest in a vast project to turn the
island into a hub for storing and trading oil
products.
“VTTI wanted to invest in an oil terminal
in the Eastern Mediterranean which is considered a region of great commercial activity
for oil products yet does not have adequate
facilities to store them. Cyprus, Lebanon,
Egypt and Turkey were evaluated and Cyprus was chosen as the country that meets
a specific set of criteria”, George Papanasta-

This is a massive
project that
will financially
revitalise the region
of Vassilikos and
Cyprus in general

siou, Managing Director of VTT Vasiliko
told Gold.
As Papanastasiou pointed out, Cyprus
has a favourable geographical location, it is
an EU member state (and therefore adopts
the concept of bonded warehousing which
favours the activities of such terminals), it
has deep sea waters close to shore that can
accommodate large vessels, it has a modern
economy, and offers a very good level of service and a highly qualified English-speaking
workforce. “Generally, Cyprus has many
advantages for attracting investments”, he
concluded, while not omitting to mention
that “There is still room for improvement.
For example, lengthy and complex licensing
procedures should be simplified.”
VTT Vasiliko is investing €300 million
in Cyprus, which represents about 1.7% of
the country’s GDP. This amount does not
include investments in the provision of other
services, created to support the operation of
the Terminal such as towage service, ship
pilotage, a chemical laboratory etc.
The core activity of VTT Vasiliko Ltd is

the storage and management of oil products.
Oil shipping companies will be able to lease
space in the Terminal in order to store the
products that they market to Cyprus and
the broader Eastern Mediterranean area and
beyond.
Moreover, the jetty of the Terminal can
be used for securely loading and discharging
oil products between ships – something that
now occurs in the open sea – with all the risks
that it entails, thus making Cyprus a hub for
this activity. The VTT Vasiliko Terminal
can also serve as an alternative solution to the
needs of the local market when the business
activities of petroleum marketing companies
will need to be removed from Larnaca.
Finally, Papanastasiou noted that, “The
VTT Vasiliko Terminal can be a quick and
economical solution for the repatriation of
the Cyprus Republic’s strategic stocks which
are stored in Greece and the Netherlands,
and also aid in freeing up the site of the
energy centre at Vasilikos for creating the
LNG Terminal which is a project of national
significance.”

the international investment, finance & professional services magazine of cyprus

Gold 45