Socar Romania to begin Galati bitumen tank flows by May

Market: Oil products
06/03/25

Azerbaijan state-owned Socar's Romanian trading and supply unit is planning to begin using 3,000t of refurbished bitumen tank capacity at Unicom's Galati terminal from late April or early May.

The firm is aiming to bring its first bitumen cargo into the facility, on the Danube river inland from the Romanian Black Sea coast, in May. International trading firm Vitol has been utilising separate Unicom bitumen tanks since 2020, progressively raising its bitumen capacity there to around 8,000t.

The Socar move will intensify supply competition into the key Romanian market which is thought to have grown to approach or potentially surpass the 700,000t demand mark in 2024 — a year of local, general and EU elections that all helped boost road project spending — from around 620,000t.

All but about 10-15pc of Romanian imports arrive by truck and rail from Balkan, Hungarian, Polish and Austrian refineries, as well as cargo shipments mainly from Greece and Turkey. Romanian domestic output is restricted to Rompetrol's Vega refinery in Ploiesti where it typically ranges from 60,000-100,000t/yr.

Socar will move 5,000t cargoes into Galati, the typical size of bitumen tanker cargoes into Romanian terminals, with some of the volumes to be placed directly into its 3,000t tank capacity and the rest to be shipped by rail or truck to Romanian and other regional storage and end-user outlets.

Local market participants understood that the Socar tanks are have been refurbished from previously carrying other oil products.

Romanian firm Bitholder is by far the biggest bitumen terminal operator in the country, with storage facilities at Mangalia and Constanta that are regular recipients of import cargoes during the peak paving season starting from March or April through to November.

Market participants reckon that a central European refiner is planning to use separate Unicom tanks at Galati, which is well placed for serving both the domestic market and export markets in Moldova and Ukraine. Suppliers are increasingly eyeing the latter given speculation over a possible Russia-Ukraine peace deal.

Turkish bitumen trading and supply firm Guven Asfalt has made increasing forays into the Romanian - as well as neighbouring Bulgarian market — since last year. It currently operates bitumen storage tanks at Mdgigia, close to Constanta, and at Floresti much further inland. The firm delivered a cargo in ship-to-truck operations at Midia oil port in Constanta in early February on board its 6,000dwt bitumen tanker Kiymet Ana.

By Keyvan Hedvat

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