Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. Announces Agreement to Acquire Shell Las Palmas Terminal

PIRAEUS, Greece, May 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. (NYSE: ANW) today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire from Shell Espana S.A. the assets and operations of the Shell Las Palmas terminal in the Canary Islands, which is located near the northwest coast of mainland Africa. The acquisition, which is subject to the completion of detailed documentation, is expected to close by the end of July.

The Shell Las Palmas terminal occupies an area of approximately 20,000 square meters, providing bunkering services for a diverse group of ship operators primarily along major trans-Atlantic seaborne trade routes. The terminal includes a lubricants plant, dedicated in-land storage facilities totalling approximately 65,000 cubic meters in capacity as well as on-site blending facilities to sell all grades of fuel oils and distillates. Las Palmas generates total annual marine fuel sales volumes in excess of approximately 2.0 million metric tons, of which Shell Espana had an approximate 18% market share, and a 25% market share in fuel oil 380 cst. Consistent with Aegean Marine's plan to conduct physical supply operations in the Canary Islands and provide comprehensive marine fuel services to vessels both in port and at sea, the Company intends to initially deploy two double-hull bunkering tankers to the Shell Las Palmas terminal. Following the sale of the terminal, Shell Espana will exit the Las Palmas marine fuel business. All employees of the terminal will be retained by Aegean Marine.

E. Nikolas Tavlarios, President of Aegean Marine, commented, "With our agreement to acquire the Shell Las Palmas terminal, Aegean Marine continues to actively consolidate the fragmented marine fuel industry in a disciplined manner that meets a strict set of return criteria. Building on the successful acquisition of Verbeke Bunkering, our latest accretive acquisition further expands the Company's vast global network and provides strong growth potential. By capitalizing on our modern delivery fleet and leading brand recognition, we expect to drive future sales volumes throughout the Canary Islands, which serve as a critical bunkering port for all major shipping sectors. We also plan to take advantage of the increasing demand for low sulphur fuel in this sizeable market and utilize the port's considerable storage facilities to procure large quantities of supply to be on hand in order to serve our customers. Including Las Palmas, Aegean Marine will have expanded the number of its service center locations to 16, which serve a total of more than 40 markets worldwide, compared to five markets at the time of our IPO in December 2006."

Spyros Gianniotis, Chief Financial Officer of Aegean Marine, stated, "The ongoing execution of management's growth strategy bodes well for Aegean Marine to continue to expand its market share for the global supply of marine fuel and increase sales volumes. In further enhancing our growth prospects, we plan to leverage our large and diverse customer base upon entering new strategic markets as we have consistently done in the past. We intend to draw upon our significant financial liquidity, including available cash, to finance the acquisition of the Shell Las Palmas terminal and commence operations in the Canary Islands beginning in the third quarter of 2010. As we continue to take advantage of attractive growth opportunities that strengthen our position as the premier independent supplier of marine fuel, we expect to enhance our long-term earnings potential and drive shareholder value."

About Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc.

Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. is an international marine fuel logistics company that markets and physically supplies refined marine fuel and lubricants to ships in port and at sea. The Company procures product from various sources (such as refineries, oil producers, and traders) and resells it to a diverse group of customers across all major commercial shipping sectors and leading cruise lines. Currently, Aegean has a global presence in more than 15 markets, including Vancouver, Montreal, Mexico, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, West Africa, Gibraltar, U.K., Northern Europe, Piraeus, Patras, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Morocco and the Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam (ARA) region.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to provide prospective information about their business.  Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts.

The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words "believe," "intend," "anticipate," "estimate," "project," "forecast," "plan," "potential," "may," "should," "expect" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, our management's examination of historical operating trends, data contained in our records and other data available from third parties. Although we believe that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond our control, we cannot assure you that we will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections.

In addition to these important factors, other important factors that, in our view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include our ability to manage growth, our ability to maintain our business in light of our proposed business and location expansion, our ability to obtain double hull secondhand bunkering tankers, the outcome of legal, tax or regulatory proceedings to which we may become a party, adverse conditions in the shipping or the marine fuel supply industries, our ability to retain our key suppliers and key customers, material disruptions in the availability or supply of crude oil or refined petroleum products, changes in the market price of petroleum, including the volatility of spot pricing, increased levels of competition, compliance or lack of compliance with various environmental and other applicable laws and regulations, our ability to collect accounts receivable, changes in the political, economic or regulatory conditions in the markets in which we operate, and the world in general, our failure to hedge certain financial risks associated with our business, our ability to maintain our current tax treatments and our failure to comply with restrictions in our credit agreements and other factors.  Please see our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a more complete discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties.

SOURCE Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc.

WANT YOUR COMPANY'S NEWS FEATURED ON PRNEWSWIRE.COM?

440k+
Newsrooms &
Influencers

9k+
Digital Media
Outlets

270k+
Journalists
Opted In

GET STARTED