Page 6 - AsianOil Week 21 2022

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Rosneft, Gazprom Neft bookings generating

new business for Sovcomflot

PROJECTS & RUSSIA’S state-owned tanker operator Sovcom- destined to go to other markets but were redi-
COMPANIES flot (SCF) is still attracting plenty of business, rected after the imposition of sanctions, the
with a surge of recent bookings from Russian sources said.
oil producers partially making up for the loss Nine SCF tankers have brought or are bring-
of Western clients in the wake of the invasion of ing Russian oil to India since late February,
Ukraine, according to a report from Bloomberg. Bloomberg added.
SCF, the owner of the world’s largest fleet of The news agency also quoted shipbroking Rosneft has
mid-sized crude oil carriers, saw a large por- sources as saying that Gazprom’s oil arm, Gaz-
tion of its fleet go underutilised in the first two prom Neft, was using SCF tankers to load car- been using SCF
months after the outbreak of war in Ukraine. goes of ESPO crude in May. It noted that one of
This trend was anticipated to intensify once the state-owned company’s vessels, the Sakhalin tankers to deliver
international insurers stopped providing pro- Island, had taken on a load of ESPO crude on
tection and indemnity (P&I) insurance for the May 14 and departed for the Chinese port of Urals Blend crude
Russian tankers, citing considerations related to Longkou. to destinations
Western sanctions. As of last week, SCF had not commented on
Since the beginning of May, however, Russian reports of the increased bookings, Bloomberg along India’s
oil companies have increased their bookings of said.
SCF tankers. Two state-owned companies – The Russian shipping company’s fleet consists west coast.
Rosneft, the country’s largest oil producer, and mostly of Suezmax and Aframax tankers that are
Gazprom, its main natural gas producer – have more suited to shorter trips between Russia and
arranged to use the company’s ships to load and Europe than the long-haul trips from Russia
deliver crude oil from various locations in Russia to Asia. Even so, Bloomberg noted, Russian oil
to customers in Asia, Bloomberg said. companies are keen to keep barrels moving to
Sources with knowledge of the matter told customers, despite the greater expense of doing
the news agency that Rosneft has been using so on smaller ships.
SCF tankers to deliver Urals Blend crude to des- SCF began attempting to sell off part of its
tinations along India’s west coast, where Reliance fleet earlier this month in order to pay off debts.
Industries Ltd (RIL) and Nayara Energy operate According to press reports, it was looking to
refineries. Some of these cargoes were originally unload 40 tankers from its fleet of 121.™

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 21 27•May•2022