Argus Nefte Transport Oil transportation logistics in the former Soviet Union Volume XVI, 5, May 2017 Primorsk loads first 100,000t diesel cargo Russia’s main outlet for 10ppm diesel exports, the Baltic port of Primorsk, shipped a 100,000t cargo for the first time this month. The diesel was loaded on 4 May on the 113,300t Dong-A Thetis, owned by the South Korean shipping company Dong-A Tanker. The 100,000t cargo of Rosneft product was sold to trading company Vitol for delivery to the Amsterdam-Rotter- dam-Antwerp region, a market participant says. The Dong-A Thetis was loaded at Russian pipeline crude exports berth 3 or 4 — which can handle crude and diesel following a recent upgrade, and mn b/d can accommodate 90,000-150,000t vessels with 15.5m draught. 6.0 Transit crude Russian crude It remains unclear whether larger loadings at Primorsk will become a regular 5.0 occurrence. “Smaller 50,000-60,000t cargoes are more popular and the terminal 4.0 does not always have the opportunity to stockpile larger quantities of diesel for 3.0 export,” a source familiar with operations at the outlet says. But the loading is significant considering the planned 10mn t/yr capacity 2.0 addition to the 15mn t/yr Sever diesel pipeline by 2018. Expansion to 25mn t/yr 1.0 will enable Transneft to divert more diesel to its pipeline system from ports in 0.0 Apr Jul Oct Jan Apr the Baltic states, in particular from the pipeline to the Latvian port of Ventspils. 16 17 Terminal operator Primorsk Commercial Port (PCP) — part of Novorossiysk Commercial Seaport (NCSP) — shipped a diesel cargo of nearly 60,000t for the FSU crude exports first time in August, when Vitol loaded 57,000t supplied by Bashneft and New mn b/d Stream’s 180,000 b/d Antipinsky refinery on the 65,000t Stena Premium. The 8.0 standard diesel cargo size at Primorsk was previously 30,000-40,000t. 7.5 Berths 3 and 4 were originally expected to start loading 60,000-80,000t diesel 7.0 cargoes as part of the Sever expansion project. But following damage to Primor- 6.5 sk’s berth 1 in a November accident, crude was diverted to berths 3 and 4, meaning most diesel is still exported through berths 8 and 9. The Primorsk sea 6.0 port captain issued a ruling in April last year, confirming that berth 8 can now 5.5 accommodate 76,400t tankers with 13.7m draught, while berth 9 can accept 5.0 47,100t tankers with 10.8m draft. Apr Jul Oct Jan Apr 16 17 State-controlled Transneft plans to increase product supplies to Primorsk — the company has a controlling stake in NCSP, alongside private-sector firm Summa Group. Transneft completed the phase-one, 800,000 t/yr expansion of the Sever pipeline to Primorsk to 15mn t/yr in November. First-quarter diesel loadings at PCP CONTENTS were 100,000t lower on the year at 3.8mn t, while exports of 13.7mn t in 2016, were down by 700,000t, after Lukoil diverted product to its own Vysotsk terminal. Red signal for Latvian rail supplies 2 The expansion of Sever will increase available export capacity to Lukoil’s Ufa products return to rivers 3 365,000 b/d Nizhny Novgorod and 290,000 b/d Perm plants, Bashneft’s Ufa group of refineries, Antipinsky, and the 140,000 b/d Taneko and 160,000 b/d Taif Rosneft expands floating storage 4 refineries at Nizhnekamsk. But only Taif intends to increase exports. Tatneft- NCSP: upgrade will boost efficiency 7 owned Taneko does not export 10ppm diesel, but may start shipping the grade FSU crude exports 31 next year, while other companies have yet to make a decision on 2018 exports. FSU products exports 32-33 Supplies through Sever are not expected to reach 25mn t/yr until 2019-20. Pipeline crude exports 34-36 The Dong-A Thetis and the similar-sized Dong-A Maia have been chartered by Rail data 37-45 Vitol shipping arm Mansel for at least five years. The five-year lease rate for Pipeline/rail tariffs 46-48 80,000-160,000t LR2-type tankers was $22,000/d early this year, brokerage Alibra Export costs 49 says. The vessels were completed at South Korea’s Hyundai shipyard last year. Copyright © 2017 Argus Media group Licensed to: Argus Media, Argus Media Argus Nefte Transport May 2017 NEWS Red signal for Latvian rail supplies Exporters hoping to move products by rail from Russian refineries to terminals in Latvia are encountering severe obstacles to securing approval for shipments from state-owned Russian Railways (RZD). The problems are apparently as a result of unofficial restrictions imposed by the Russian rail operator. Of the requested 1.21mn t of Russian products shipments by rail to Latvia’s Mangali, Ziemelblazma, Ventspils and Liepaja stations this month, only 115,800t — or 10pc — had been approved by 10 May. Mangali and Ziemelblazma serve the port Riga. Russian products supplies by rail to Latvian ports were 345,200t in April, 135,600t lower than initially requested. This signals the first significant disruption of rail shipments to Latvia since September 2015, when RZD recommended that exporters maximise rail deliver- ies to Russian ports as large-scale repair work began on routes to Latvia. But the restrictions introduced at that time were minimal and shipments of products soon returned to normal. This time around, the problem appears more severe, particularly for shippers of petrochemicals products. “There are no facilities in Russia that can accept these cargoes,” says a source at one rail operator — only Finland and the Baltic countries have terminals that can handle petrochemicals. RZD insists that no limitations have been imposed on shipments to Latvia. “Every specific case of refusal [to approve transportation] should be investigated individually in order to understand what is really going on,” the company says. Market participants acknowledge that no official restrictions have been imposed by RZD or Russia’s transport ministry, although the earlier recommendation to divert products to Russian ports remains in place. Exporters of Russian coal and fertilizers are also facing problems. RZD ap- proved the rail transportation of only 1.4mn t of coal to Latvian ports, of the 3.8mn t requested, in the first two weeks of April — or 37pc of the total. But it authorised 4.1mn t out the 4.5mn t requested for rail shipments to ports in north- west Russia over the same period — or 91pc of the total. Companies involved in rail shipments to Latvian ports say they were told by dispatching stations in Russia that transportation requests were being blocked by state-controlled Latvian Railways. But both the latter and local shipping firms in Latvia deny this. “I do not remember Latvia rejecting even a single tonne of a transit cargo — we will take anything we are offered and would be happy to take more,” a source at one company says. Shippers are facing problems only with supplies to port stations, for now, and market participants expect cargoes to be diverted to Rezekne and Daugavpils sta- tions, close to the Latvian-Russian border, and Riga’s Skirotava marshalling yard. Terminal problem Rezekne was used for rail supplies to Estonian terminals last year, as a result of unofficial restrictions on shipments from Russia, but RZD halted the use of this route after a few months. Russian cargo shippers have faced unofficial curbs on crude and products supplies by rail to Estonia since late-May 2016, with shipments to the ports of Tallinn, Paldiski and Sillamae dropping to 2.4mn t last year as a result, compared with 5.5mn t in 2015. The restrictions are still in place. A key objective for the Russian government is to end transit of Russian prod- ucts through ports in the Baltic states, market participants say. But this will be impossible until the expansion of the Sever diesel pipeline to Russia’s Baltic port of Primorsk is complete and further infrastructure for loading clean products at Russian terminals is added. Copyright © 2017 Argus Media group Page 2 of 50 Licensed to: Argus Media, Argus Media Issue Ref: 190653 Argus Nefte Transport May 2017 NEWS Ufa products return to river system Rosneft started exporting fuel oil and low-viscosity marine gasoil (MGO) by river from Bashneft’s 480,000 b/d Ufa group of refineries last month. A combined 200,000-210,000t of fuel oil and of low-viscosity 0.7-1.5pc sulphur MGO from Ufa, in Russia’s Bashkortostan republic, are scheduled for shipment by river in May — with 150,000t of the former going to the Estonian port of Sillamae, where larger cargoes can be accumulated, and 50,000-60,000t of MGO heading to floating storage in the Kerch strait. Monthly river shipments from the three Ufa refineries — 140,000 b/d Novoil, 150,000 b/d Ufa and 190,000 b/d Ufaneftekhim — will probably remain at around this level until the end of September. This should enable Rosneft to ship at least 1mn t of products in total from the plants during this year’s navigation season. Bashneft did not ship products on Russia’s inland waterway system last year, after deciding that supplies by river would not be profitable. But Rosneft — which took control of Bashneft in October — plans a significant increase in river exports of Ufa products this year compared with 2015, the last year when products were transported from the plants by river.