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Gazprom Neft is reported to be close to agreeing a deal with Unicom Holding to take over the company's bunkering activities at the Romanian port of Constantza.

"Negotiations are ongoing, but discussions are held exclusively for bunkering activities in the Black Sea," a source close to the transaction is quoted as saying.

According to the source, Unicom Holding will continue to run its bunkering activities in Galati and Drobeta Turnu Severin and the deal is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Founded in 2007, Gazprom Neft Marine Bunker LLC is a subsidiary of Gazprom Neft and supplies bunker fuel for marine and river vessels.

The majority of its bunker fuel is sourced from the Gazprom Neft-owned Omsk oil refinery, with the remainder coming from the Moscow and Yaroslavl oil refineries.

The company has five regional offices and two subsidiaries: Gazprom Neft Shipping LLC, which operates the company's own fleet of 9 fuelling vessels, and Gazprom Neft Terminal SPB LLC, which operates a bunker terminal in St. Petersburg.

The main areas covered by the company are:

North-West: St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, Primorsk and Ust-Luga;

South: Novorossiysk, Tuapse, Port Kavkaz and Taman;

Russian Far East: Nakhodka, Vladivostok, Sakhalin and Kozmino;v Domestic river routes: Moscow, Yaroslavl, Kazan, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Astrakhan, Ust-Kut, Samara and Nizhny Novgorod.

According to Gazprom Neft Marine Bunker, the company increased its market share in the Russian bunker market to 18.5 percent in 2011 with almost a 50 percent increase in total sales volume to 2.2 million tonnes, up from 1.5 million tonnes in 2010 and 1.4 million tonnes in 2009.

Gazprom Neft Marine Bunker has publicly said that its growth strategy is aimed at extending its activities in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Partnership agreements have already been signed with Turkish bunker supplier Petrol Ofisi A.S. and Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) for bunkering at the port of Istanbul.

The company forecasts that total sales volume will increase to 7 million tonnes by 2020.