Equinor has entered into an agreement with Liwathon for the sale of the Equinor South Riding Point oil terminal at the Grand Bahama Island in the Bahamas.

The terminal was purchased by Equinor in 2009 to enable the company to trade oil primarily originating from the American markets.

Alex Grant, Equinor’s senior vice president for Crude, Products and Liquids said since the purchase of the South Riding Point terminal in 2009, the flow in the oil market in North America has changed significantly for Equinor and the company has increasingly sold crude to other regions globally.

“Consequently, we believe a new owner would be better positioned for the further development of the terminal.

“This transaction supports our strategy to focus and concentrate the portfolio around core areas and allows us to redeploy capital where we believe we have a stronger competitive advantage. Liwathon will now take over ownership and commence a process to restart regular operations of the South Riding Point terminal.”

Liwathon will assume the responsibilities for the employees of South Riding Point.

The South Riding Point terminal located at the Grand Bahama was commissioned in 1973 and has total storage capacity of 6.8 million barrels.

In September 2019, the South Riding Point terminal was in the direct path of Dorian, a violent category five hurricane, and sustained extensive damages including an oil spill which affected the terminal site and a forest area north-east of the terminal.

Since then, extensive clean-up operations have been performed by Equinor in close collaboration with Bahamian authorities. The clean-up operations outside the fence were concluded in March 2021 and extensive testing of the groundwater outside the terminal has shown no sign of hydrocarbon deposits.