Rosneft President’s arguments concerning Russia’s bunkering market do not reflect its specific features, RF Association of Bunker Suppliers says
The arguments of Rosneft President Igor Sechin contained in his letter to Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in respect of Russia’s bunkering market do not reflect the specific features of the bunker business, Russian Association of Marine and River Bunker Suppliers told IAA PortNews.
The bunkering sector in the Russian Federation is driven by the smooth interaction of the processing industry and the port terminals which carry out presale finalization of bunker fuel, the Association comments. Bunker fuel is not the same as heavy fuel oil produced by refineries according to certain specifications. It features over 29 parameters which have to be controlled before the fuel enters the propulsion unit. There are different propulsion units powered by different types of fuel. There are 7 (seven) types of bunker fuel plus 4 (four) types applicable in SECAs. It is too expensive, and sometimes impossible to have all the 11 types of fuel available at the bunkering tanker. Therefore, it is internationally widespread to prepare final products at onshore oil bases or at bunkering tankers. The basic product for bunker fuel is heavy fuel oil produced by refineries of vertically integrated companies (VICs): Gazprom Neft, Rosneft, LUKOIL, Alliance etc. Heavy fuel oil is purchased from VIC refineries by independent bunkering companies under direct contracts or at the raw exchange market, the Association explains.
As for mini-refineries, their prices are higher than those of large oil companies as their product has high content of diesel fractions, low density, straight-run and viscosity characteristics. It is more profitable to export such heavy fuel with the premium of $85 to $180 per tonne as compared with the conventional product.
According to the Association, mini-refineries supply no more than 2% of fuel for bunker production in Russia. The main reason for this fuel to appear in the bunkering market is the lack of affordable and high quality fuel produced by VICs at the raw exchange market.
Russian Association of Marine and River Bunker Suppliers sets forth standards and regulations obligatory for all its members. They comply with the requirements of the Russian legislation and international standards. Russian Association of Marine and River Bunker Suppliers is a self-regulating organization from 06.12.2011. From that moment it regularly carries out scheduled and random inspections to verify that its members meet the standards and regulations related to bunkering activities. So far, such inspections have revealed no significant violations. So the Association argues the statement dividing the bunkering community into honest representatives of VICs and dishonest independent bunker suppliers.
Russian Association of Marine and River Bunker Suppliers comprises over 30 well known and large bunkering companies (including bunkering companies of vertically integrated structures such as RN-Bunker, LUKOIL-Bunker, Gazpromneft Marine Bunker).
Related link:
Rosneft President asks RF Prime Minister to put development of bunkering activities into hands of VIS>>>>