EU regulators approve Sinopec's European storage deal

BRUSSELS, March 8 (Reuters) - EU competition regulators have cleared the acquisition of Dutch petroleum products and biodiesel storage firm Vesta Terminal BV by Chinese oil major Sinopec and Swiss-based energy trading house Mercuria Energy Group.

The European Commission, which acts as competition regulator in the 27-country European Union, said on Friday the deal did not raise competition concerns "as the volume of petroleum products stored at Vesta's facilities is very low when compared to the traded volumes".

Vesta has storage operations at terminals in the Belgian port of Antwerp, Flushing/Vlissingen in the Netherlands and in Muuga, Estonia.

The deal will give state-owned Sinopec a foothold in northwest Europe's vital Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA)trading hub, where physical movements of oil products contribute to futures prices.

Sinopec and its trading unit, Unipec, will use the Vesta tanks to optimise trade in gasoil (heating oil and diesel) and gasoline. (Reporting by Rex Merrifield; Editing by Mark Potter)