Glencore, BP Stuck with Tainted Russian Crude
MOSCOW (Reuters) – BP and Glencore are struggling to sell around 600,000 tonnes of tainted Russian oil more than three months after the contamination was discovered, according to six trading sources.
Russia’s oil industry was plunged into a crisis in April after about 5 million tonnes of oil for export was found to be contaminated with organic chloride, a chemical used to help boost oil extraction but which can damage refining equipment.
Exports through the Druzhba pipeline that transports oil to Germany, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Ukraine and Belarus were halted. The Baltic port of Ust Luga loaded some 15 cargoes or 1.5 million tonnes of the contaminated oil for Western buyers.
At least 6 cargoes that sailed from Ust Luga remain unsold, according the trading sources. Glencore is stuck with 500,000 tonnes in one very large crude carrier (VLCC) Amyntas and two smaller tankers – Searanger and Searuby, according to the sources and Refinitiv Eikon vessel tracking system.
BP has tried to sell its cargo Fsl Shanghai at a tender earlier this month but failed, according to the same traders. BP and Glencore both bought the oil from Russian state oil major Rosneft.
BP and Glencore declined to comment. Rosneft did not respond to a Reuters request to comment.
They cannot claim compensation until they sell the oil.
“You can’t file a claim against Russia until you have actually sold your oil and counted your losses,” one of the trading sources said.
President Vladimir Putin said in April oil contamination had damaged Russia’s image as a reliable supplier. Transneft and Rosneft have been at loggerheads over efforts to resolve the situation.
The oil was transported by pipeline monopoly Transneft, which said it was ready to pay compensation to Russian shippers which in turn would pay compensations to overseas buyers.
Transneft and the Russian Energy ministry did not respond to Reuters requests to comment.
So far, Transneft has only agreed to pay $15 per barrel in compensation, or roughly a quarter of the cost of the oil, to Kazakh oil producers, whose barrels got contaminated while en route to Western markets.
