Exolum to build new terminal for biofuel and bulk liquid products at Port of Bilbao

The facility would enable the receipt, storage, blending and dispatch of biofuels and other alternative fuels and oils, the company said on 29 May.

With the first phase of the project due to start next year [2025], the facility – located next to Exolum’s facility in Zierbena – was expected to become operational in 2027.

Connected to the port, the new terminal would allow vessel entry and departure operations and provide a link to Exolum facilities in Zierbena and Santurce and to the company’s network in Spain as well as to other company’s terminals.

Services offered at the new terminal would expand and diversify the company’s current portfolio and growth capacity for this type of product, Exolum said.

Carried out in several phases, the first phase would involve the construction of five tanks with a total storage capacity of 29,000m³.

In subsequent phases, capacity and services would be increased by adapting logistics to the specific requirements of each type of raw material and improving flexibility, the company said.

Exolum’s Spain region lead Jorge Guillén said the investment represented “an important step towards Exolum’s strategy of investing in Spain to develop and operate the logistics infrastructures required by new sustainable fuels, making further progress on energy transition objectives”,

Active in 11 countries (Ecuador, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Spain, the UK and the USA), Exolum operates a 6,000km pipeline network, 69 storage terminals and 47 airport facilities, with a total storage capacity of more than 11M m³.

In addition to managing three storage terminals in the Spanish municipalities of Santurce, Zierbena and Rivabellosa, the company has operations at Bilbao and San Sebastián airports.

The company also operates a 152km pipeline connecting the three terminals with the refinery in Muskiz, the Port of Bilbao and the rest of the company’s pipeline network.