Corporate profile – Vexoil

VEXOIL Bunkering

Latvia’s leading bunker supplier

vladimir CHEBOTAREV

Latvia’s leading bunkering supply company VEXOIL Bunkering has been providing the shipping industry with fuel oil out of the Port of Riga for over four years and in 2007 launched a new service in the nearby Port of Ventspils.

With Latvia well placed to handle much of the CIS’ imports and exports, the region has seen a huge growth in seaborne trade in the past five years, with rising volumes of wet, dry and containers being transhipped through the ports of Riga and Ventspils. More trade has meant more vessels calling at Latvian ports and VEXOIL Bunkering has benefited from this regional growth. Also spurred on by the continuing improvements in Riga and Ventspils’ port infrastructure, VEXOIL has expanded its operations year on year. The company now boasts 130 well trained employees and has a strong reputation amongst the international shipping and trading community for its high quality products and level of service. The company is renowned for its flexibility and organises its work to take account of its customers’ wishes.

According to the owner of the company, Vladimir Chebotarev, VEXOIL’s product turnover in Riga has quadrupled since its inception in 2003 and in 2007 it sold 120,000mts of fuel products. The company has also now expanded its operations into the ice-free port of Ventspils. With 11percent Russian oil and oil products exports transhipped through Ventspils, the port is a key transit centre for the region and VEXOIL has seen a continuous rise in the number of vessels calling at the region.

Vladimir also notes the difficulties he faced starting the business from scratch and entering the highly competitive European bunkering sector. The company focused its efforts on doing everything for the client, and despite criticism from competitors, the company’s high quality work was proved by the considerable volumes of product sold during the last few years. VEXOIL Bunkering has achieved stability and has opportunities to expand, but understands that few rivals in a stable European market wish to see the emergence of a new player, especially one with a price strategy based only on European prices.

Key to VEXOIL’s success has been its investment in a modern oil terminal with a capacity of 8400m3 in Riga. Constructed in 2003, the terminal meets all European Union safety regulations and can handle vessels with a draft of up to 4.5m. The terminal is able to store a maximum of 6000m3 of heavy fuel oil (HFO) and 2000m3 of marine gas oil (MGO) at the same time. The company also supplies Low-Sulphur Fuel Oil (LSFO). The terminal also has a blending facility which is able to produce all grades of HFO.

Owners and traders can take comfort from the knowledge that VEXOIL is a high quality company and is fully compliant with all international regulations and meets the stringent international standards for marine bunker oils set under ISO8217:2005. The marine fuel VEXOIL supplies does not contain unwanted contaminants and the maximum sulphur limit in heavy fuel oil is in line with MARPOL Annex VI regulations 14 & 18. The company tries to offer all bunker fuel grades in both Riga and Ventspils. VEXOIL’s marine fuel is mainly supplied from Russian refineries and the company says that it is very confident in the quality of its product, as all the products are tested at independent laboratories such as Saybolt and SGS.

The oil is delivered by railway and upon arrival at the Riga terminal, up to 12 rail cars can be discharged at the same time. Discharging cars loaded with HFO is undertaken by heating the heavy fuel. VEXOIL is equipped with a boiler house which is used for heating up the HFO in a special tank thus ensuring that there is no water content in the discharged product. The pipeline system and storage facilities for HFO are heated by electrical thermal cable, with the temperature regulated and capable of being increased-up to 60 degrees centigrade.

In Riga VEXOIL Bunkering owns two bunkering barges which can be filled from the oil terminal at a rate of 250m3 per hour. The barges have a fuel capacity of 980m3 and 342m3 respectively and are able to discharge at a rate of 180m3 and 70m3. VEXOIL’s operations in Ventspils currently consist of a 3,090 dwt barge with a fuel capacity of 2,800mt of HFO and 145mt of MGO.

VEXOIL Bunkering Ltd
Skolas 21, office 209
Riga, LV-1010, Latvia
Tel: +371 7333100
Fax: +371 7333150
E-mail: office@bunkering.lv or bunkering@vexoil.lv
Website: www.bunkering.lv