OREANDA-NEWS. Gazprom Neft and Sovcomflot have used the opportunity of the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the supply of marine lubricants. The agreement was signed by Alexander Dyukov, CEO, Gazprom Neft, and Sergey Frank, President and CEO of Sovcomflot.

This new agreement provides for the potential expansion of marine lubricants supplies in terms of geographic range, with the number of vessels using Gazprom Neft lubricants increasing to 19 by 2018.

Gazprom Neft oils and lubricants are currently in use on six Sovcomflot tankers, including the Arctic shuttle tankers the Kirill Lavrov and the Mikhail Ulyanov, both of which are used to transport oil from the Prirazlomnoye field, operated by Gazprom Neft subsidiary Gazpromneft Shelf. Gazprom Neft marine lubricants will also be used on three new Sovcomflot Arctic tankers — the Shturman Albanov, the Shturman Malygin, and the Shturman Ovtsyn — all of which will be joining the company’s fleet in 2016 to transport hydrocarbons from the Ob Sea as part of Gazprom Neft’s development of the Novoportovskoye oil and gas-condensate field.

Gazpromneft Lubricants, operator of the Gazprom Neft lubricants business, has been producing marine oils and lubricants since 2012. In 2015, following the introduction of new restrictions under the MARPOL convention,* the company began producing lubricants with enhanced performance features, developed specifically for engines using low-sulphur fuels. Gazprom Neft Lubricants established itself as Russia’s market-leading marine lubricants supplier in 2015, increasing its market share to 26 percent.

Alexander Dyukov, CEO, Gazprom Neft, commented: “Gazprom Neft’s strategy for its lubricants business is built around investment in technology and infrastructure to ensure the highest possible quality of products and services. All lubricants produced in Russia are in no way inferior to products from leading international producers, and offer a cost-effective alternative in terms of price. This makes possible our policy of import substitution, allowing us to offer our partners solutions that can significantly increase the viability of their businesses.”

Sergey Frank, President and CEO, Sovcomflot, added: “The signing of today’s memorandum is entirely logical — the SCF Group and Gazprom Neft have been successfully cooperating for a long time, including on the major Prirazlomnoye project. This year, the partnership between our two companies will be taken to a new level, with Sovcomflot’s Arctic shuttle tankers, for the first time in history, commencing the year-round transportation of crude oil from the Ob Sea as part of the Novy Port project. The SCF Group has every confidence in Gazprom Neft as a reliable supplier, whose products meet the highest international quality and environmental standards.”