MOSCOW, April 6. /TASS/. Russia’s oil major Rosneft will receive the first crude oil shipment from Iraqi Kurdistan amounting to 600,000 barrels this week, the company’s representative told TASS Thursday.
"This week Rosneft will receive the first oil shipment from the Kurdistan Regional Government. The cargo amounting to 600,000 barrels will be shipped in the port of Trieste and delivered to Rosneft’s refinery assets in Germany through TAL [Transalpine Pipeline - TASS]," he said, adding that later Kurdistan’s oil will be refined in India.
"As Rosneft is expanding its refinery network, the company plans to provide most efficient supplies to refineries," the source said. "We assume that Kudristan’s oil allows us to diversify sources of oil," he said, adding that the diversification of supplies helps hedge risks of overusing one source of oil. The structure of agreements with Kurdistan helps to mitigate Rosneft’s risks in force majeure circumstances, the company’s representative added.
As reported earlier Rosneft and the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq signed an agreement on the sidelines of the IP week conference in London, which stipulates oil purchases by Russia’s top oil producer in the period between 2017 and 2019. The purchaser of crude will be Rosneft’s trading arm - Rosneft Trading SA.
The contract was signed as part of the cooperation agreement between Rosneft and the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq in the fields of upstream, infrastructure, logistics and trading.
According to Rosneft Chief executive officer Igor Sechin, the off-take and supply of Kurdish crude oil into Rosneft's expanding worldwide refining system will further contribute to the increase in its efficiency.