ALBANY — The LogiBio Albany Terminal, responsible for the proliferation of ethanol 10 percent gasoline throughout the Capital Region, was sold Thursday for approximately $46.5 million to Buckeye Partners through its new subsidiary Buckeye Albany Terminal.

The sales price was more than four times what Houston-based ethanol trader BioUrja Trading paid when it bought the terminal, formerly known as Cibro Petroleum Products Albany terminal, in March 2007 for $10.125 million at bankruptcy court auction.

Officials with Buckeye Partners said the Breinigsville, Pa.-based company was attracted to the LogiBio terminal because of its active storage capacity of 1.8 million barrels, two deep-water docks, and ethanol unit train off-loading capability.

Nathalie de Vos Burchart, BioUrja Trading vice president of logistics, told The Daily Gazette in December that after her company took over the terminal it expanded ethanol operations, dedicating 25 percent of the terminal’s storage capacity to the corn-based alcohol fuel. She said after LogiBio began running operations at the terminal, CSX Corp. increased ethanol transportation from the Midwest to the Port of Albany from 80-car trains to 102-car trains. It resulted in an approximate monthly average of 1,000 train cars carrying about 29 million gallons of ethanol.

Buckeye Partners Chairman and CEO Forrest Wylie said ethanol was key to his company’s interest in the terminal.

“The Albany terminal is a major ethanol distribution hub in the Northeastern United States,” Wylie said in a news release Thursday. “Ethanol arrives at the terminal by rail car and is distributed from the terminal by barge and truck. The Albany facility is a significant addition to our expanding network of distribution terminals.”

According to company officials, Buckeye Partners owns and operates one of the largest independent petroleum pipeline systems in the United States in terms of volumes delivered, with approximately 5,400 miles of pipeline. Buckeye Partners owns 64 refined petroleum products terminals, operates and maintains approximately 2,200 miles of pipeline under agreements with major oil and chemical companies.

If the Albany terminal’s operations meet a set of performance goals over the next three years, Buckeye Partners will pay an additional $1.5 million for the terminal.