Equinor to sell Bahamas oil terminal to Estonia's Liwathon Group

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Equinor has agreed to sell its South Riding Point oil terminal in the Bahamas to Estonian logistics and investment company Liwathon Group, the Norwegian oil and gas producer said on Tuesday.

"Since we bought 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," Equinor said in a statement.

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

Equinor did not disclose financial details of the deal.

A 2019 hurricane damaged the 6.8 million barrels capacity terminal, causing an oil spill that affected a nearby forest as well as the site. Equinor said testing of the groundwater outside the terminal, following clean-up operations, had shown no sign of hydrocarbon deposits.

Liwathon, formerly called AS Vopak, operates four oil liquid terminals in Estonia with a total storage capacity of 6.7 million barrels.

The Estonian company is indirectly controlled by Guernsey company Liwathon Terminals Limited, which is 100% owned by Barclay Thomas Rowland, according to its annual report for 2021.

Liwathon said in the annual report its operations in Estonian were affected by Estonian and Western sanctions on Russian and Belarusian oil products following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine a year ago.

(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom and Nerijus Adomaitis; Editing by Essi Lehto and Ed Osmond)