Asia/Pacific News
Brightoil Looks to Expand Bunker Business
Brightoil Petroleum Holdings [HKG:0933] (Brightoil) is expanding its bunkering operations, particularly in China, even as it also moves to diversify into crude oil trading, Chairman Raymond Sit Kwong Lam told Platts.
"Our China bunkering business should expand significantly by next year," he said.
"Once we have VLCCs delivering straight into our Zhoushan storage facility, our costs will be on par with those in Singapore ... and we can be much more competitive in China."
The company has two new storage projects in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province, and Dalian, Liaoning province, which will go online in 2014 and 2015, which will have a combined capacity of more than 10 million metric tonnes (mt).
It also plans to add 50 to 60 new staff to its global bunker team within the next two to three months, as well as increase its storage in Singapore by as much as 20% in its leased capacity at the Helios, Horizon and Universal terminals by January.
Sit said the company's plans also include selling crude oil to China's state-run oil companies and expanding its storage and bunkering operations in the country.
"Crude trading is on big volumes and after a year or two, we can become one of the biggest trading houses in the world," he said.
The company has made personnel changes recently, establishing a new crude trading desk with veterans from Shell, China's Unipec, and Reliance Industries Ltd. of India., and Sit said it plans to start a new chemicals trading desk next year.
"Margins from crude oil trading are much better than in bunkers, which involves too many operating costs such as storage, blending and port fees," Sit said.
"We can sell to many countries, but China will be [our] biggest buyer.
"As a Chinese company we receive a lot of national support."
Sit recently said Brightoil is trying to reduce its dependence on bunkers because the current shipping industry environment makes that market "very difficult."
