(Reuters) - The companies developing a long-delayed oil storage terminal at the closed Coryton oil refinery in southeast England have put two-thirds of its land up for sale, the partners announced on Thursday.
Vopak, Royal Dutch Shell (LONDON:RDSa) and Greenergy said the proposed sale of 403 acres from the erstwhile Petroplus refinery site would not impact the Thames Oilport project.
"We remain committed to the development of a deep-water import terminal at Thames Oilport to meet the growing fuel supply needs of the South East," Greenergy Chief Executive Andrew Owens said.
Despite this, the project remains officially "under review" with no timeline for opening.
It was originally scheduled to open at the end of 2013, but was put on hold in September 2014 as the partners looked to assess the costs of the conversion.
The roughly one third of the site still available provides more than enough space for a terminal, a spokesman for the project said.
"No one has any firm idea yet how compact or how large the site will be," the spokesman said.
Vopak said its equity participation in the joint venture would mean recognising as an exception loss for the first half of 2015 of between 40 million and 45 million euros ($45 million-$50 million).
($1 = 0.8937 euros)