In order to ensure Belgian oil supply in times of crisis, APETRA buys its own stocks. Stocks are being built up for middle distillats (heating oil, diesel oil and jet fuel (JP1)) and for crude oil. For encvoronmental and safety reasons the crude oil is stored underground in salt caverns. 

Salt caverns are hugh cavities - most of them have a diameter of some 70 metres and a hight of approx. 600 metres - which are leached in salt layers which are situated hundreds of metres under the surface. Such salt layers exist in Europe e.g. in France, in the Netherlands and in Germany.  Worldwide caverns are used for the storage of petroleum, natural gas and equally CO2.

In order to have, during a crisis, its crude oil transformed into finished products, APETRA has developed a framework agreement, the "Crude against product agreement" (CAPA).

The main principles of this CAPA are the following: 

• double contract for, on the one hand, the sales of crude oil by APETRA to a refinery(group) and, on the other hand, the sales of finished products by this same refinery(group) to APETRA, whereby the refinery(group)
  • takes delivery of the crude oil at the location where APETRA stores and
  • in return delivers, within the timeframe fixed in the CAPA, the finished products stipulated in the APETRA call for tenders in storage facilities in Belgium or close to the Belgian border.
• a same pricing period applies both for the sales of the crude oil and the finished produits    
• the individual contract is awarded on the basis of the economically most interesting offer for APETRA. 

For the main principles of the CAPA (Powerpoint presentatie):  click here (416.08 KB)

For the text of the CAPA:  click here (175.84 KB)

Are you, as refinery(group) interested in signing this CAPA and, thus, joining the refinerygroups which will receive in a crisis the APETRA calls for tender? Do not hesitate to contact us!