Key deal boosts Port Bonython proposal

The State Government is expected to respond to the Port Bonython deep-sea port feasibility study this month.
PBF (85%-owned by Stuart Petroleum and 15% by the Scott Group of Companies) will buy 74 ha at Port Bonython in the upper Spencer Gulf, Stuart said on Tuesday.
PBF also has a 10-year option to buy a second parcel of 64 ha.
Once approvals were gained, work should begin at the end of this calendar year to establish a 500m litre-a-year diesel import, storage and distribution facility at Port Bonython by mid-2011.
Stuart said the new facility would result in:
• 100,000 dwt tankers being able to berth at Port Bonython as opposed to the 28,000 dwt which currently land the bulk of the state’s diesel fuel at Port Adelaide;
• road haulage distances to customers in the north and west of the state would be significantly lower from Port Bonython than from Port Adelaide; and
• road safety issues associated with moving large volumes of fuel through metropolitan Adelaide would be overcome.
“This project is a key piece of infrastructure which will support the expansion of industry in the north and west of the state for decades to come,” Stuart Petroleum managing director Tino Guglielmo said