Rosneft hopes for govt help in fixing Novorossiysk export collapse

MOSCOW, Feb 22 (PRIME) -- Russian oil major Rosneft hopes that the government will issue rulings necessary to remove the collapse of oil product transshipment in the port of Novorossiysk, a representative of the company told reporters late on Wednesday.

“The subjective restriction of competition that we see in the port will not lead to better efficiency in this sphere of operation. We hope that corresponding regulators will pay attention to that and make necessary decisions within the framework of the current legislation,” Rosneft’s representative said.

The representative also said that comments that sparked the commotion in the media have nothing to do with real facts.

Aide to the president of Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft Igor Dyomin said that actions of the captain of the port of Novorossiysk led to a collapse of oil product exports, as loading of six tankers was suspended and about 2,400 railway tank wagons were waiting to be unloaded.

Dyomin said that the captain demanded tanker Penelope of shipping company Prime Shipping, a subsidiary of Rosneft, be loaded first, which was impossible because the ship’s owners have no formalized documents for the cargo.

Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port (NCSP), the operator of the port, asked Deputy Transport Minister Viktor Olersky and Vitaly Klyuyev, director of the department of state policy for maritime and river transport of the Transport Ministry, to solve the situation. Transneft sent a letter to Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov.

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