Freight One aims to maintain share of Rosneft rail shipment volumes
SOCHI. May 30 (Interfax) - Rail freight operator Freight One, part of Vladimir Lisin's UCL group, plans to keep its share of oil and product shipping volumes for Rosneft at the current high level even after the state-owned oil giant switches to awarding orders on a tender basis, Freight One chief Oleg Bukin told journalists on Thursday on the sidelines of the Strategic Partnership 1520 business forum in Sochi.
"We are one of the main operators that Rosneft works with. Naturally we do not plan to lower our shipment volumes [for it]," Bukin said. Freight One currently accounts for about 40% of Rosneft's rail shipments. "We hope at a minimum to maintain [those volumes]. We would also like to participate in volumes from TNK-BP that will be consolidated [in Rosneft]," he said.
Rosneft, which accounts for one-fifth of crude oil and product shipments in Russia, has begun awarding orders in tenders operated by a subsidiary, RN-Trans LLC. The new contracts will start coming into force on July 1. They are expected to have terms of nine-twelve months. The tenders will dispose of orders on 40 million tonnes of oil and product, potential tender participants have said. Depending on the time of year, 30,000 to 40,000 tanker cars are needed to meet Rosneft's demand.
Until now Rosneft has concluded contracts directly with the rail operators. It is obligated to award the contracts on a tender basis under federal law 223-FZ, which requires state companies and their subsidiaries to award contracts on purchase of goods and services at tender beginning on July 1, 2013. The practice will not for now apply to Rosneft's recently acquired TNK-BP, which has existing contracts with operators. In any case, TNK-BP has been awarding rail freight contracts at tender since 2010. They currently cover shipment of about 27 million tonnes a year.
Freight One is the leading rail freight operator for Rosneft crude oil and product. Other major partners include Transoil and Neftetransservis. The tenders are likely to receive bids from SG-Trans, which is owned by Sistema and its partners, and from Globaltrans, participants in the rail freight market said.