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Vitol's Sarroch refinery crude receipts at 6-year high

  • Märkte: Crude oil, Oil products
  • 10.03.25

Crude receipts at refiner Saras' 300,000 b/d Sarroch refinery in Italy rose to a six-year high in February, with the plant receiving a trio of new grades in February-March.

Receipts were close to 320,000 b/d last month compared with 205,000 b/d in January, according to Argus tracking. Receipts averaged 245,000 b/d in 2024, slightly lower than around 250,000 b/d in 2023.

Saras had aimed for 265,000-270,000 b/d last year, without success. In the past decade the unit has consistently underperformed targets, not achieving much more than 260,000 b/d in a year. Former workers said the plant is unable to distill crude in excess of 285,000 b/d. After repeated issues and "technical hiccups" it was unable to run at that pace for extended periods, a problem shared with the large majority of its Mediterranean peers.

But Saras appears to have been making efforts to improve availability with a string of planned maintenance programmes in the past 18 months. New owners, trading firm Vitol, may be keen to test the unit's capabilities.

Vitol purchased the unit last year in a €1.7bn ($1.84bn) deal and appear to be introducing new grades. Sarroch took receipt of a first cargo of 28°API Guyanese grade Payara Gold in February, having in December sampled Senegal's Sangomar crude for the first time.

Receipts in February comprised 125,000 b/d of Libyan crude, split between Amna, Bouri and Zueitina grades, 70,000 b/d of Angolan crude split between Palanca and Pazflor, 50,000 b/d of Azeri BTC Blend, 30,000 b/d of US WTI, 25,000 b/d of Caspian CPC Blend and 20,000 b/d of the Payara Gold.

Argus assessed these at a weighted average gravity of 35.4°API and 0.5pc sulphur content, compared with 32.2°API and 0.7pc sulphur in January. The slate averaged an estimated 33.3°API and 0.8pc sulphur last year, almost identical to 2023.

The pace of delivery in March appears good, with around 600,000 bl of BTC Blend unloaded. Twi further new grades for Sarroch were received in the form of 1mn bl of heavy sweet Meleck from Niger, and 735,000 bl of the re-branded Kazakh Urals grade, Kebco.

Sarroch was not a major buyer of Urals, prior to the imposition of sanctions following the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and received its last Baltic-loaded Urals in April 2022.

A further 1mn bl each of Brazilian Frade and Libyan Attifel are on route.

Sarroch crude receipts mn bl

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