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Baltic Fuel Company (BFC) Group says it has received approval and permits from the St. Petersburg City Administration for the development of artificial lands at its Turukhtannye Islands oil terminal.

In a statement, the bunker firm said: "St. Petersburg City Administration has approved area planning documentation of land reclamation for expansion of marine oil terminal 'Turukhtannye Islands'. Thus, BFC was given the green light to start building of an artificial land area of 1.43 hectares."

Currently, the terminal territory encompasses 7.3 hectares of land, including two berths for the transshipment of oil products. In 2013, the facility handled some 500,000 tonnes.

BFC's investment program includes the overhaul and modernization of the terminal in order to substantially increase capacity.

Once the expansion plan is completed (forecast to be in 2015-6), the terminal's throughput is expected to reach 1.7 million tonnes of oil products per annum. From 2017, BFC says the terminal will annually handle up to 2.4 million tonnes of products; from 2020 the company expects the figure to be up to 4-5 million tonnes.

The project also includes the launch of the third berth, which is expected to increase the tank farm's storage capacity to 42,000 tonnes.

The total investment in the project is estimated at $110 million.