The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) closed tender on sale of the 170,000 tons of the Urals oil with the FOB basis from Novorossiysk with shipment in late July. The tender’s winner became the Swiss trader Mercuria Energy Trading, owned by the J&S Group, Trend was told at the SOCAR.
The Company Mercury Energy Trading, established in 1993, is dealing, basically with the supply of the Urals oil to China. In 2003 the Company took out 23 million tons Urals (450,000 barrels/day).
170,000 tons oil will be sold by tanker consignments per 85,000 tons each. The shipment of the first tanker from Novorossiysk berth N2 is expected on 24-25 July, the second - on 30-31 July. With the account of this cargo, the Mercuria Energy Trading bought 252,000 tons oil from SOCAR with shipment from Novorossiysk.
Since the start of the year the SOCAR’s oil was bought at tenders from Novorossiysk by the following companies:
January - LUKOIL (140,000 tons), Vitol (80,000 tons);
February- LUKOIL (160,000 tons), Arcadia (140,000 tons);
March- Bp Oil Trading (80,000 tons), Total (140,000 tons);
April - Glencore (160,000 tons);
May вЂ" RD Shell (80,000 tons); LUKOIL (85,000 tons);
June - Mercuria Energy Trading (82,000 tons).
July - Mercuria Energy Trading (170,000tons).