Gazpromneft to Double Fleet, Enter LNG Bunkering Market

Gazpromneft Marine Bunker, operator of the Gazprom Neft bunkering business has, in the first nine months of 2014, exceeded sales volumes of marine fuels by 32 percent year-on-year, reaching 3.1 million tonnes. Direct-to-vessel sales were at 2.5 million tonnes, some 48 percent up on last year’s figures.

Gazpromneft says that these results have been achieved by strengthening collaboration with existing customers, as well as gaining new ones, and by growing the number of vessel calls at ports operated by the company.

Sales at ports in the Russian Far East, at which maritime traffic is currently showing rapid development, have seen Gazpromneft Marine Bunker achieve direct-to-vessel sales of more than 757,000 tonnes of marine fuels in the first nine months of 2014 — exceeding last year’s levels by almost two-fold.

Gazpromneft Marine Bunker conducts bunkering operations at 19 sea and 13 river ports throughout Russia, as well as at Europe’s international ports — including Tallinn, Riga, and Constanta.

Gazpromneft Marine Bunker CEO Andrey Vasiliev, said: “A broad geographical range, ownership of our own bunkering fleet and various terminal assets, high service standards, and direct contracts with the most significant consumers of marine fuels — it’s precisely these advantages that mean our company can be confident of maintaining its leadership of the Russian market. In the long term we plan to more than double the size of the fleet. We are also lining up investment in the modernisation of our terminal complexes. Next year will see the introduction of stringent fuel in Emission Control Areas, which will increase demand for low-sulphur fuel. To that end, we are focusing on the development of a new market sector in LNG bunkering, aiming to secure a foothold in this sector by 2025.”