World Bunkering > News > Autumn 2010 > News and views

Duma to discuss bunker market problems

Olga Bogacheva

The Federation Council‘s Commission for National Marine Policies is to initiate parliamentary hearings on oil spill response (OSR) in Russian ports and inland waterways. This decision was adopted by the Commission at a session held at the beginning of June. The Russian Transport Ministry’s practice of putting pressure on companies responsible for emergency oil spill response was presented as a violation of antitrust legislation.

The Commission discussed an order issued by the captain of St Petersburg Sea Port requiring compulsory additional certification of emergency response teams. Several private companies found themselves in a very complicated situation as a result of this order. Tatiana Presnyakova, general director of Morskaya Ecologia OOO, said her company had been responsible for emergency oil spill response for over 10 years, and was now facing “aggressive bureaucratic pressure” for the first time.

Business representatives invited to the hearing insisted that bureaucratic pressure is aimed at establishing a state monopoly in the OSR services market. Russian bunkering suppliers reported that the private sector offered services that are several times less expensive than similar offers from state-owned companies.

In November 2008, Russian’s Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS) accused the Federal Agency for Transport Supervision (FATS) of violation of antitrust laws after relevant claims were brought by the Russian Association of Marine and River Bunker Suppliers. Courts at all levels have ruled in favour of the Association, emphasised Senator Vyacheslav Popov, a member of the Commission. However, Popov continued: “At present, Transport Ministry subsidiaries are still using administrative pressure against private companies. Violation of antitrust legislation still takes place; the sources [of the problem] haven’t been eliminated.”

Delegates at the St Petersburg forum

The Commission of the Federation Council will make all reasonable efforts to solve this problem. It will propose legal action and submit relevant recommendations to the Russian government, Russian Transport Ministry and FAS.

“This case should be given more publicity,” the Commission for National Marine Policies declared. In order to achieve this, “A Minister of Transport should be called to report at ‘Government Hour’ during the coming session of the Federation Council in the fall”, according to the Council’s official website. There are several issues to be considered, including compensation for damage incurred by companies as a result of non-payment for services rendered, and the liability of officers responsible for preventing the violation of antitrust legislation.

RUSSIAN BUNKERING COMPANY NEWS

Transit-DV Group to modernise Vostokbunker terminal

Transit-DV Group has taken a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to finance the modernisation of the terminal owned by its subsdiary Vostokbunker.

Managers of Transit-DV Holding have reached a preliminary agreement on financing opportunities for the modernisation with the head of the EBRD’s Far East representative office, according to a statement from Tranzit- DV’s media office.

Transit-DV is now preparing supporting documentation for submission to EBRD. This will include IFRS records for the previous two years and a feasibility study for the project. The company is to convert the records of its three subsidiaries, Torgovy Dom Transit-DV OOO, Severo-Vostochnaya Shipping Company and Vostokbunker ZAO, to meet international standards for financial records. It is likely that the three companies will then be merged, with a further audit to be performed by Moore Stephens, an EBRD approved auditor.

Russian bunkering company Vostokbunker ZAO owns the third largest marine oil terminal in Primorsky region. The terminal provides bunkering services to Russian and foreign vessels in Russian ports and the Asia-Pacific region, and to Okhotsk and Bering Marine Geology Engineering companies. Forty percent of liquid fuel supplies for the Far East are transhipped there. The administrations of Magadanskaya region and Kamchatsky Kray are also clients of Vostokbunker. Vostokbunker produces VB marine fuel (company’s own trade mark) and F-5 bunker oil.

Alexander Sobolev (centre), Chairman of Nevsky Mazut Board

Bergen-Tank delivered to customer

Nevsky Shipbuilding and Shiprepairing Factory has delivered a second 850 dwt coastal bunkering tanker to Haugland Tankers AS, a subsidiary of Bergen tankers AS, Norway.

The vessel, Bergen-Tank, is a sister to Oslo-Tank, delivered in November last year, and will operate in the port of Bergen. The 750 cu m tanker is intended for the transportation and delivery of light and heavy oil products with flash point above 60°C.

The vessel was designed by Skipskonsulent AS, Bergen, Norway. Bureau Veritas supervised construction. It is 47.85 metres long and 10 metres wide, with a hull height of 4 metres and draught of 2.85 metres. The vessel has a service speed of 8 nautical knots, and a main engine capacity of 2x500 kW from two high-speed Mitsubishi motors. The main motors are connected to variable pitch propellers, diameter 1.4 metres, via flexible coupling and reduction gearing. The lateral thruster has a capacity of 200 kW with a fixed pitch propeller. The vessel’s power plants comprise two shaft generators of 450 kW each, and a 50 kW diesel-generator for use in harbour.

Lukoil Murmansk to modernise single-hull tanker

Lukoil-Bunker’s Murmansk branch has bought the SH tanker Desna for reconstruction into a double-hull vessel. The Desna has been on charter to Lukoil from MASKO Company for the last year.

Reconstruction will be carried out by Kanonersky Ship-Repairing Company, St Petersburg. The tanker is expected to start operations in Murmansk in December 2010.

PORT NEWS

St Petersburg berths for Nevsky Mazut

Nevsky Mazut has acquired a six-hectare site previously operated by Interferrum Metal stevedoring company from Sovfraht-Sovmortrans in Petersburg port. The facility specialises in cargo handling operations, including hazardous cargos. At present, activity at the berths remains unchanged, although the company is working on a development programme for the site.

The company assets consist of a six-hectare container terminal located within St Petersburg Marine Port (Turuhtannaya harbour) with two berths of 130 metres (IF-1) and 167 metres (IF-2) long, railway tracks leading to Avtovo station on the Oktjabrskaya Railway OAO, a trestle approach, and both out-of-door and roofed storage facilities. The berths are 5.2 metres and 3.8 metres deep, designed for use by vessels of 7,000-8,000 dwt.

Lukoil offers LS in Kaliningrad

Lukoil’s Kaliningrad branch has been offering fuel with a sulphur content of 1% or lower since 1 July 2010, in compliance with MARPOL Convention 73/78 restrictions governing sulphur content in the ECA (Baltic and Northern Seas).

ASSOCIATION NEWS

The Russian Association of Marine and River Bunker Suppliers held its General Meeting on June 23, 2010

Participants commended the results achieved by the Russian bunkering Association and its executive body during the past year. The Association’s ratings and influence grew significantly over this period, and the Association has become a well-recognised body with a remit for resolving problems within the industry.

Alexander Sobolev, Chairman of Nevsky Mazut Board, said that the economic efficiency of the Association is at least 1:100. This means that for each rouble contributed to the Association as part of the membership fee, companies gain revenue of at least 100 roubles through the Association’s upholding of fair competition rules and its campaigning for necessary amendments to regulations.

Russian bunkering Forum

Vitaliy Kovalev, president of the Russian Association of Marine and River Bunker Suppliers

The Russian Association of Marine and River Bunker Suppliers (the Association) held its third forum on ‘Current Trends and Highlights in the Russian Bunkering Market’ in St Petersburg on June 24-25, 2010. Participants and speakers unanimously declared the Forum a success.

One hundred and forty delegates attended the sessions. Most of them represented Russian bunkering companies from various Russian regions, including the Far East, Novorossiisk, Rostov-on-Don, Moscow, Chelyabinsk, Novokuznetsk, Murmansk, Arhangelsk, Perm, Astrahan, Samara, and Kazan. As in previous years, delegates from related industries also attended, including representatives from the insurance, finance, oil, legal, and equipment supply sectors. The Russian bunkering Forum was sponsored by RN-Bunker, Gaspromneft Marine Bunker and Infotech Flex.

In his opening address, Vitaliy Kovalev, President of the Russian Association of Marine and River Bunker Suppliers, emphasised that the Association was marking its first major milestone, five years of existence. The Association is now able to solve both national and regional Russian bunkering problems, regardless of the exact location and specific features of the issue. Association members are now influential when new industry related rules are considered and are able to press for favourable legal conditions in Russian bunkering business, he said.

Yuri Orlov, deputy captain of St Petersburg Sea Port, speaking at the forum

The Forum programme featured sessions on overall industry performance, current issues with Russian bunkering fuel quality, a survey of the Russian bunkering markets, the building and renovation of small tankers, applications for government subsidies for vessels building and renovation, and self-regulation in the Russian bunkering industry.

Concerning the future of Russian ports, most speakers noted that the after-effect of the world economic crisis is gradually smoothing out. The first half of 2010 definitely brought a certain amount of industry recovery against the relevant period of 2009. Total cargo turnover in 2010 is predicted to be more than 520 million tonnes, against 496.4 million tonnes in 2009.

Yury Orlov, deputy captain of St Petersburg Sea Port, described the process of merging Russian ports, using the reorganisation of ports in the Finnish Gulf as a case study. This reform, carried out on the orders of Russian President since 2005, has now reached its final stage. Six ports in the eastern part of the Finnish Gulf (St Petersburg Sea Port, Primorsk, Ust-Luga, Vyborg, Vysotsk and the passenger port of St Petersburg) will be governed by a united administration. The united marine structure is expected to be more consolidated and manageable, and will lead to reduced management costs.

V. Kapustin, general director of VNIIPIneft, an engineering company specialising in oil processing, presented the current forecast for oil products supplies accompanying modernisation of Russian refineries. The total output of oil products in 2009 was 235.6 million tonnes, while export reached 120.6 million tonnes.

Every 100 tonnes of crude oil produces 15.3 tonnes of petrol, 28.6 tonnes of diesel fuel and 27.2 tonnes of fuel oil. The total conversion rate is 71.8%. The total output of fuel oil is 63.7 million.

Veronica Karpuhina, deputy general director of Lukoil Bunker Istanbul, described Lukoil Bunker’s activities abroad, and outlined specific features of regional markets where Lukoil operates, including markets in Bulgaria, Turkey and Italy. Lukoil has a number of basic criteria which must be met in order for the company to open a branch, she says. These are:

• Proximity to Lukoil refineries
• An attractive Russian bunkering market
• Availability of Lukoil group resources
• Economic efficiency

Mrs Karpuhina outlined the problems her company faced in various countries, highlighting the complexity created by variations in legislation and business culture in the different countries in which Lukoil operates. However, Lukoil’s clients need high-standard services in different regions, and they expect the consistently high quality of marine fuel delivered by Lukoil refineries.

Other speakers discussed current issues around Russian bunkering fuel quality in Russian markets, the building and renovation of Russian bunkering tankers, applications for government subsidies for vessel building and renovation, and self-regulation in the Russian bunkering industry. Animated discussions continued, even after the official sessions were over.