EMEA News
Proposed Rotterdam Crude Oil Terminal in Doubt
The fate of a planned crude oil loading terminal at the Port of Rotterdam has been thrown into question after a proposed supply deal received little support from Russian oil majors and government representatives, TankTerminals.com reports. citing Russian media outlet Kommersant.
The facility was to be built by the country's Summa Group to accommodate Urals deliveries from the Port of Primorsk, with the intention of reducing the spread between Urals and North Sea Brent crude.
It was reported that at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, the idea of a potential guaranteed supply agreement received little enthusiasm from major players including as Lukoil, Gazprom Neft, and Rosneft, with head of the Ministry of Energy Alexander Novak also having questioned the terminal's profitability.
However, conflicting reports also claimed that the issue of a guarantee supply deal wasn't on the agenda, with the main area of contention being whether to include the facility in wider plans to create the "Urals brand as an international standard development."
It is understood that Summa Group have declined to comment on the matter.
According to reports, Summa Group had previously hoped for guaranteed flows of 20 million tons of crude annually to the new facility.
Earlier this year, it was reported that commodities trader Trafigura has been emerging as the dominant player in Russian oil trading.
