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Rosneft Marine, the international marine fuel trading office of Russian state owned oil company Rosneft, has opened its second office in Beijing, China, in a move to expand its international network and to support its growing Asian client base.

Rosneft Marine’s new Beijing office will aim to assist customers in the region with access to marine fuel in the Far East, while its UK counterpart in London will continue to focus on the global and European markets.

Mr Vladimir Brezhnev, director of Rosneft Marine UK, said that the opening of the new office will be mutually beneficial to both Rosneft and its customer base.

“With the establishment of Emission Control Areas in North America, we foresee a rising demand for low sulphur fuel oils particularly for vessels travelling from Asia to the West Coast of the United States. We intend to work closely with regional ship operators who have US bound vessels to supply them with ECA compliant low sulphur fuels of the highest quality. We hope to collaborate with our clients, especially on the basis of long-term formula contracts as we are one of the few suppliers able to guarantee a reliable and consistent supply of high quality fuel in the region,” he said.

Commenting on the new Beijing office, Ms Lu Sha, sales manager, said: “Our Asian customers are very important to us and we are pleased that our multinational team is well positioned to provide improved coverage and local support to our customers here. We are also looking into the possibility of supplying marine gas oils to the Chinese and regional markets.”

"Rosneft Marine will continue to seek expansion in different parts of the world with the aim of offering superior, localized service to its global clients, while delivering premium quality fuel in Russian ports," the company said.