February 12, 2011 [Ventbunkers] - Uldis Augulis, the Latvian Minister of Transportation, held an emergency meeting on February 9th, 2011. The meeting was held to find a solution to the 1700 rail car tankers Lukoil subsidiary Litasco has backing up the Latvian railway system.
The meeting took place at 4pm in the Ministry of Transportation. Representatives from the Ministry, Latvian Railways (LDZ), Latvian customs authority, Ventbunkers (VBU) and Litasco SE attended. All parties were summoned to find a solution to the emergency situation on the railways caused by 1700 railcar tankers containing Litasco fuel oil.
Uldis Augulis began the meeting by informing Litasco representative Andrei Polyakov that this has now become an international matter affecting the transit business from Russia and Belarus and seriously affecting the Latvian economy. “If you don’t find a solution to this problem we will,” said Augulis.
The transport minister then asked if Litasco was willing to help resolving this problem. He warned that otherwise the State could nationalize and sell the fuel oil in the rail tank cars.
At the end of the meeting it became clear that Litasco would send a ship to Ventbunkers to lift the fuel. Lifting of the fuel oil began on the 10th of February when Litasco’s vessel “Urals Star” arrived at Ventbunkers terminal.
“We are grateful for the initiative of Mr. Augulis and of course we are happy to have Litasco removed the first 100’000 MT of fuel oil from our tank facilities. What have they achieved by blocking the Latvian railway system and our terminal? Nothing else than causing millions in losses and damages that they will have to pay.“ stated Dr. Rudolf Meroni, the Chairman of the Ventbunkers Supervisory Board.
The lifting of the first 100’000 MT of fuel oil will not fully resolve the problems Ventbunkers has with Litasco. Litasco continues to hide where they allegedly paid approximately 22 million Euros for services rendered by Ventbunkers.
Some rumors in the international oil industry say that Litasco’s blockade had two evident purposes. First, trying to keep its competitor Mercuria, one of the world’s large energy traders, away from the port of Ventspils. Second, the Litasco blockade of the Latvian corridor may possibly be part of a bigger plan to influence the price of fuel oil in Europe.
