Perth Amboy a Major Part of $500 Million Investment in New Jersey
Bob Malecki, CEO Clark Smith and Craig Brown. *Photo by Paul Wang
By Katherine Massopust
PERTH AMBOY – Buckeye Partners L.P. is a publicly traded master limited partnership that owns and operates one of the largest independent liquid petroleum products pipeline systems in the United States. A pipeline transportation company, Buckeye owns approximately 100 liquid petroleum product terminals, including terminals in New York Harbor and St. Lucia. The company provides critical sources of energy supplies to central and northern New Jersey.
Buckeye acquired the Perth Amboy Terminal in July 2012 and is well underway of modernizing the facility.
On December 11, 2013 Buckeye Partners L.P. announced that it had completed the purchase of 20 liquid petroleum products terminals with a storage capacity of approximately 39 million barrels for $850 million from Hess Corporation. The 19 domestic terminals are located primarily in major metropolitan locations along the U.S. East Coast and have approximately 29 million barrels of storage capacity, including approximately 15 million barrels of capacity located in New York Harbor. Hess’s Retail Marketing Business will be a key customer at these facilities under a multi-year storage and throughput commitment.
Clark Smith has been CEO of Buckeye for two years and has been with the company for seven years. When asked what made Buckeye decide to come to Perth Amboy, Smith answered, “We were at a board meeting over five years ago and we were looking for a centralized location for fuel distribution. Perth Amboy met the needs since the city is centrally located and the perfect location. We’ve invested $500 million in New Jersey, a large part of it in Perth Amboy.”
Buckeye’s investment includes a crude rail offloading facility, enhanced truck unloading truck rack, dock refurbishment, refined products pump station and related pipeline and refurbished and additional tank storage and handling. This includes a six mile, 16-inch pipeline to Linden Station.
Smith enthusiastically stated, “Joe Sauger (Sr. Vice President, Engineering and Construction Services) oversees the Perth Amboy Project. Last week (Week of Dec. 8, 2013) we took over four Hess terminals.”
Sauger states, “We modified the Chevron plant. We looked at refining the facility, the storage tank refurbishments, and state of the art manifolds which will optimize movement in the facility. Most of the work will be done by 2014. Some in 2015. It’s important to have quality craftsmen with the local trade unions who came together for mechanical and electrical equipment to be both safe and effective.”
“It took at least nine local trade unions,” according to Kevin Dunch of the Middlesex County Trade Association.
On Tuesday, December 17, 2013 Buckeye recognized the 9 trade unions at a luncheon at the Barge Restaurant. These trade unions worked together to modernize the Perth Amboy facility. According to Account Director Tom Cosentino, “It took all the trade unions working together to get the place up and running.”
Buckeye is in the process of building a new six mile, 16-inch pipeline which will connect the Perth Amboy Terminal with the Buckeye Linden Hub. This connection will allow customers to transport products from the water to end-markets utilizing Buckeye’s network of assets. This will increase access to low cost energy supplies throughout the region.
Smith stated, “The U.S. is increasing oil production. Perth Amboy is going to play a major role in energy development. The Perth Amboy Terminal will be a state of the art rail facility for transporting refined oil supply. We’re looking for the opportunity to commercialize even more. It’s an opportunity to rail crude oil and take it to the east coast. It’s great what you can accomplish when you work together. The backbone is going to be Perth Amboy. The pipeline should be done by April 2014 when total rehabilitation of the infrastructure of the pipeline is completed. Perth Amboy will be a most sophisticated facility and a hub of New Jersey.”
Buckeye CEO Clark Smith stated when speaking at a December luncheon, “It’s a player’s business. We are creating a first class business in Perth Amboy. We’ve gotten strong support and a great relationship with our team and workers. New Jersey is in a very good position. The amount of support the Mayor and her teammates have given has been phenomenal. Code Enforcement and Emergency Services have bent over backwards. I want to thank the Mayor, her team and staff.”
Buckeye plans to refurbish and modernize many new operating facilities at the Perth Amboy site over the next three years that will increase the amount of activity and traffic in the area during the construction process. For more information on Buckeye visit www. buckeye.com.
