Zenith Energy
Zenith Energy was founded in 2014 as a partnership between current CEO Jeff Armstrong (former VP of Kinder Morgan[1]) and private equity firm Warburg Pincus.
Following a $600 million line-of-equity in investment by Warburg Pincus in August 2014 [2], Zenith Energy acquired[3]:
- 2015: Phillips 66’s liquids storage terminal in Bantry Bay, Ireland
- 2016: British Petroleum’s Amsterdam, Netherlands facility
And, following an additional equity injection of $625 million from Warburg Pincus and Kelso & Co[4]:
- 2017: Arc Logistics Partners and its portfolio of 21 terminals across 12 US states
Zenith Capital
See also Zenith Capital
Greenwashing
"Our commitment to innovation combined with our focus on prioritizing the health and safety of our people and the environment has elevated Zenith’s position as an industry leader. Integrity is at the heart of everything we do as a company." - Jeff Armstrong, CEO[5]
Zenith Energy received the International Liquid Terminals Association (ILTA) safety award three years in a row[6].
US Terminals
Portland
In 2017, Zenith Energy purchased the Portland Terminal, where 90% of the State of Oregon's petroleum is stored & distributed from.[7]
Zenith Energy claims to be leading Portland’s renewable fuel transition[8]. Yet following its purchase of the Portland Terminal in 2017, the company greatly expanded fossil fuel operations, shipping in oil by rail from the tar sands of Canada and the Bakken shale fields of North Dakota, and then loading it onto ships in the Willamette River for export. As a result of Zenith's expansion oil shipments through Portland have surged, rising from 14 million gallons in 2018 to 234 million gallons in 2020.
As a consequence of Zenith's expansion, mile-long 100-car trains filled with volatile crude oil now barrel through urban neighborhoods in Portland multiple times a week. The risk of train derailments is not shared equally, with low-income communities and communities of color making up a larger portion of residents near rail lines than in Multnomah county as a whole.
Along the Wimahl river (in the Columbia River Gorge), the trains also interfere with Indigenous tribal nations and their treaty rights to fish, threatening a disaster-in-waiting for the river and its salmon.[9]
In 2021, the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management warned that with the next next Cascadian Megaquake, Zenith Energy's "Critical Energy Infrastructure Hub and all the tank farms there pose a really grave threat to the city, the county, the region, the whole state, and environment in an earthquake," which “we've known for a long time."[10]
See also: the one pager on Zenith’s alleged "preparedness for a seismic event" (the upcoming Cascadian Megaquake).[11]
EU Terminals
Sources
- ↑ https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/zenith-energy-announces-investment-of-up-to-600-million-led-by-warburg-pincus-269823181.html
- ↑ https://warburgpincus.com/investments/zenith-energy/
- ↑ https://warburgpincus.com/case-studies/zenith-energy/
- ↑ https://www.thedeal.com/private-equity/exit-ramp-zenith-may-be-next-to-block-in-warburg-oil-pruning/
- ↑ https://www.zenithterminals.com/about/ceo-message
- ↑ https://media.graphassets.com/CEi3iMxQjSEaurrpv6Yg
- ↑ https://zenithterminals.com/terminals/portland-terminal
- ↑ https://media.graphassets.com/ROKP6GVXTruZiDrjypA1 one-pager
- ↑ https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/can-portland-oregon-stand-oil-industry
- ↑ https://www.portlandmercury.com/news/2021/07/26/35406357/industrial-hub-in-northwest-portland-will-cause-catastrophic-oil-spill-during-earthquake-report-finds
- ↑ https://media.graphassets.com/CEi3iMxQjSEaurrpv6Yg