The Port of Goteborg has been granted a permit by the local authorities for the interim storage of Russian crude oil in an underground cavern close to the port. The go-ahead makes it possible for Russian tankers to reload from smaller to larger tankers in Goteborg. Operations are expected to commence at the end of next year.
"We are very pleased to have been granted consent after three years of environmental testing. The role of the Port of Goteborg as an important reloading port for the Baltic Region has now been strengthened," says Asa Burman, Vice President of the Port of Goteborg and head of the Oil Harbour.
The background is that Russia is shipping out more and more oil via the Baltic, where only smaller tankers can operate. To move the oil on it needs to be reloaded onto larger vessels. Reloading currently takes place at one of the larger continental ports, such as Rotterdam, or 'ship-to-ship' at sea. 
"Reloading oil at sea involves an environmental risk, particularly in rough weather. With interim storage and reloading at the Port of Goteborg this risk is avoided," says Asa Burman.
The permit applies for the interim storage of eight million tonnes of crude oil each year. This represents a doubling of the crude oil volume handled at the Port of Goteborg. Storage would be at one of the underground caverns at Syrhala, near the port. When it was completed at the end of the 1970s the underground storage facility at Syrhala was the world's largest. Each of the four caverns is 800,000 cubic metres in size.
Scandinavian Tank Storage (STS), a Port of Goteborg customer, can now seriously enter into discussions with its end-customer. Before traffic can get under way, however, the pier needs to be upgraded with a recycling facility for the gases emitted during loading along with new pipework and a control room.