BARCELONA – Russian energy giant Lukoil inaugurated a petroleum-products terminal on Friday that is the fruit of its strategic alliance with Spain’s Meroil.

The 50-million-euro ($66.3 million) project at the Port of Barcelona was carried out by Meroil Tank, a 50/50 joint venture of Meroil and Lukoil subsidiary Litasco.

The new terminal was built as part of a project to expand Meroil’s existing port installations and consists of 13 new tanks with a combined storage capacity of 360,000 cubic meters (12.7 million cubic feet).

Litasco will use the new terminal “to re-export and distribute diesel, biodiesel and jet fuel in Spain,” Lukoil said in a press release Friday.

The presidents of Lukoil and Meroil, as well as the head of the Catalonian regional government, Artur Mas, attended the inauguration ceremony.

The expansion project turns the Port of Barcelona into one of the largest petroleum logistics terminals in the Mediterranean and an important hub for receiving and exporting petroleum products worldwide.

Meroil President Jose Luis Porte said the new installations will allow Lukoil to ship petroleum products to Spain from any part of the world.

Litasco chief Sergey Chaplygin said the alliance with Meroil marks “an important step” in the company’s strategy of doing business in the Mediterranean and strengthening its market position in the region.

Beyond the investment cost of building the new terminal, Lukoil President Vagit Alekperov stressed the facility’s “strategic importance.”

“The project is condemned to success,” Alekperov said, adding that it is Lukoil’s first with Meroil but surely will not be the last because the third-biggest privately owned oil company in terms of production continues to seek out investment opportunities in Spain. EFE