Royal Vopak and AltaGas have formed a joint venture and are set to jointly invest in the Ridley Island Propane Export Terminal (RIPET) project off the west coast of Canada.

The project will be located on a site near Prince Rupert in British Columbia, on land leased by Ridley Terminals Inc. from the Prince Rupert Port Authority.

The new propane export facility will have the capacity to ship 1.2M tonnes of propane annually and will have a storage capacity of around 96,000 cb m.

Eelco Hoekstra, Royal Vopak CEO and chairman of the executive board, said: "Storage and handling of gas is an important strategic focus area for Vopak. We are confident that we have found a strong partner in AltaGas that is a well-respected Canadian company with experience in developing energy projects."

AltaGas president and CEO, David Harris, added: “Vopak is a very strategic global tank storage company and brings significant experience in terminals worldwide. We look forward to working with them on RIPET as well as considering future opportunities to further build out our joint venture."

The facility is expected to be commissioned in the first quarter of 2019.

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