The current portfolio review “includes the Ust-Luga and Novorossiysk terminals, for the right price and to an appropriate buyer,” spokesman Seth Pietras said on the group’s ambition to monetize more assets and employ funds elsewhere. It already freed up cash with the disposal of Russian coking coal mining assets.

“The vast majority of our trading is done in the rest of the world, so it is best to have assets match where the trading is,” he said. “About 13% of the crude oil we trade originates from Russia, whereas some 40% comes from the Americas.”

Gunvor built the Ust-Luga terminal, which is mainly used by third parties, “from the ground up. Divesting a portion of that and using the proceeds to invest or build elsewhere would make sense in any case,” he added. “Sanctions have not impacted our Russian assets at all.”

The Ust-Luga facility on the Gulf of Finland coast, near St Petersburg, has grown to five berths, mostly shipping crude oil but also significant amounts of fuel oil as well as naphtha and gasoline.

In March, the terminal handled almost 4 million mt of oil liquids, which was the bulk of oil product trade in the Ust-Luga port (5.1 million mt), where Novatek and Sibur run separate transhipment points.

Monthly volumes through the Gunvor-operated terminal included 2.40 million mt (18 million bbl) of crude oil, 1.22 million mt (8 million bbl) fuel oil, over 260,000 mt (2.3 million bbl) of naphtha and 115,000 mt (958,000 bbl) of gasoline, shipping data indicate. Of these, less than one-tenth (up to 380,000 mt) was directly attributed to Gunvor as exporter, with Vitol as the largest third-party user (1.1 million mt).

Recent lifting activity at Novorossiysk has involved crude oil, gasoil, fuel oil and vacuum gasoil (VGO), some of which exported on the account of Litasco and Trafigura.