We are pleased to announce that Blue Water Energy LLP (‘Blue Water’) has partnered with White Deer Energy LLP (“White Deer”) to acquire a 100% interest in five refined products storage terminals located in the US Southeast. The terminals will be held by Epic Midstream LLC (“Epic Midstream”), a recently-formed midstream investment platform focused on acquiring and enhancing water-based hydrocarbon storage assets. Epic Midstream’s senior management team includes experienced industry executives from BORCO, Vopak, Marathon Oil, and Buckeye Partners.
The assets include one water-based terminal in Savannah, Georgia and four jet fuel terminals. The Savannah terminal has storage capacity for a variety of chemicals and refined products. In total, the terminals include 65 storage tanks with over 1.5 million barrels of active storage capacity and one refined product pipeline.
The transaction was led by Blue Water Energy, a recently formed London-based energy private equity firm founded by Thomas Sikorski, Jerker Johansson and Graeme Sword. While at First Reserve, Mr. Sikorski worked closely with and was a partner of White Deer principals Ben Guill and Joe Bob Edwards.
Mr. Sikorski, who will serve as the Chairman of Epic Midstream, has extensive experience in the terminal and logistics space. Previously, he led the acquisition of the BORCO terminal in the Bahamas and led the growth of that asset into the largest refined products terminal on the eastern seaboard.
Mr. Sikorski commented, “This acquisition is an excellent investment to launch the Epic Midstream platform, particularly given the strong growth and strategic nature of the Port of Savannah. We believe this location will serve as an important market for refined product imports given the proposed deepening of the Savannah Harbor to 48 feet.” He added, “We are excited to be working with a talented management team led by Denny Shoemaker and it is good to be working again with Jim Miller, who led the successful marketing effort at BORCO.”
Blue Water believes that the Epic Midstream investment represents a unique opportunity to enter the terminal and logistics business alongside a proven management team with an ability to execute a buy-and-build strategy consistent with past successes. Epic Midstream intends to build on this foundational transaction and to leverage a series of proprietary acquisition opportunities to create a network of waterborne terminals serving the East Coast and the Gulf Coast of the US.
