Viva Energy Australia Pty Ltd celebrated the opening of its new AU$18 (US$13.4) million Pinkenba bulk lubricants terminal, claiming it as the country's largest such facility with world-leading loading technology. The terminal has a storage capacity of 3.2 million litres and can manage up to 30 lubricant grades, the company says.

Speaking at the opening of the facility in Brisbane's north-east, Viva Energy CEO Scott Wyatt said "The terminal took 36,000 man hours to complete, created more than 120 local construction jobs. It stores the bulk lubricants in horizontal tanks and each loading gantry is automated - featuring dedicated pumps, piping and loading arms to protect product quality. In a world-first, the horizontal tanks are gravity loaded, rather than pumped in from the bottom of the tank, which increases operational efficiencies. The tanks also have the fastest loading rate in the Australian market."

"Our bulk lubricants terminal is complemented by a third party warehouse base, which is capable of processing more than 14,000 pallets of packaged lubricants annually." said Wyatt.

The Pinkenba facility is part of a AU$1 billion (US$745 million) investment across its supply, refining and retail businesses nationally. "With the addition of the bulk lubricants capability, the Pinkenba terminal is strategically placed to service the fuel, bitumen and lubricant needs of commercial and retail customers throughout Queensland and northern New South Wales," Wyatt says.

Viva is the exclusive licensee to the Shell brand in Australia and was formed in August 2014 following the completion of Vitols purchase of the Shell's Australia downstream business, excluding aviation. In addition to its 920 plus service station network and its Geelong Refinery in Victoria, Viva Energy operates bulk fuels, bitumen, marine, chemicals and lubricants businesses supported by more than 20 storage terminals across the country.

Viva Energy comprises Shell's Geelong refinery and 870-site retail business, along with its bulk fuels, bitumen, chemicals and part of its lubricants businesses in Australia.

In February 2014, Vitol announced it had reached a binding agreement with Shell to acquire its Australian downstream business (excluding Aviation) for a total consideration of A$2.9 billion.