Aegean: "Power Vacuum" Left by OW Bunker an Opportunity for Growth

Aegean President E. Nikolas Tavlarios says the market will evqntually find equilibrium.

Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. [NYSE:ANW] (Aegean) says it is looking to fill some of the void left by the recent exit of global player OW Bunker.

"It creates a pretty big power vacuum when a big competitor like OW all of a sudden is not there and it just creates the opportunity to go fill that void and aid us sell more volume, and being able to capture some pricing power," Aegean's President E. Nikolas Tavlarios said Tuesday during the company's Q3 earnings call.

"Now eventually that will find equilibrium, but there's definitely some opportunity that's been generated by that. And for us, we're also looking at some of the markets and some of the people too."

OW Bunker said it had seven percent of the global bunker market prior to its collapse earlier this month, meaning many industry players around the globe had at least some exposure to the now-bankrupt supplier.

"There's a lot going on out there," said Tavlarios, who was asked by Jefferies' analyst Douglas Mavrinac if he had seen any "concrete kind of effects in the market" following OW Bunker's demise.

"There are some small suppliers that did business with OW that, certainly got hit by the shrapnel and they are no longer in business. I mean they had to shut down too."

Aegean put its own exposure at 7.8 million, an amount Tavlarios said it expects to recover in full.

"We are confident in our ability to collect these outstanding amounts as OW Bunker do not hold title to or maintain any separate rights to any marine field delivered by Aegean, and all fuel was delivered under Aegean's terms and conditions," he said.