Buckeye completes acquisition of US East Coast terminal network

Buckeye Partners has completed the approximately $850m acquisition of 20 liquid petroleum product terminals from US-based integrated oil company Hess.

The acquisition is expected to increase Buckeye’s total liquid petroleum storage capacity by about 53%, to over 110 million barrels.

The 19 domestic terminals in the network are situated in major metropolitan locations along the US East Coast, which have around 29 million barrels of refined petroleum products storage capacity, including around 15 million barrels of capacity in New York harbour.

With deep-water access, a terminal in St Lucia has around 10 million barrels of crude oil and refined petroleum products storage capacity.

Buckeye Partners president and CEO Clark Smith said that the acquisition strengthens the company’s presence in major markets along the East Coast and further solidifies its position in the Caribbean.

"In the New York Harbor, the combination of the Port Reading facility, our Perth Amboy terminal, and our Linden hub provide the opportunity to create a large, integrated network that leverages our existing pipeline connections, allowing us to optimise the capabilities at each location for our customers," Smith added.

"In the Caribbean, the St Lucia terminal improves our storage capabilities and allows us to offer customers a broader set of service offerings while furthering our ability to provide logistics solutions for the growing Latin American crude oil production."

Buckeye owns and operates liquid petroleum products pipeline systems in the US, with around 6,000 miles of pipeline. It also owns around 100 liquid petroleum products terminals with aggregate storage capacity of over 110 million barrels.