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Kiev-based bunker company Marine Standard Ltd is no longer involved in the sale of marine fuels, Bunker Index was informed on Friday.

Former trader Andrey Zubov - who had been working for Marine Standard whilst based in Cyprus - explained to Bunker Index that the business has stopped operating.

Prior to the firm's closure, Marine Standard had been running an offshore supply operation in the Black Sea. The company was delivering OPL (off port limits) Kavkaz and OPL Odessa, supplying residual fuels with a viscosity ranging from 30 centistoke (cSt) to 380 cSt, in addition to marine gas oil (MGO).

In July last year, Marine Standard launched a physical supply operation at the 61st mile of the Danube river and was also able to arrange deliveries in Izmail and Reni. The company was using the 455-dwt barge Miranda (IMO 8330542) - with a total storage capacity of around 350 metric tonnes - to supply MGO with a maximum sulphur content of 0.1 perent to vessels in the area.

Zubov, who has more than 20 years' experience in bunkering and is one of the industry's leading Black Sea specialists, said on Friday that he planned to continue working in the bunker market and was in the process of searching for new employment.

Before joining Marine Standard in 2016, Zubov served as a trader at Cyprus-based Bunker Holdings Ltd for more than 12 years. Before that, he was bunker manager at Lukoil Bunker Ltd in Istanbul between 1998 and 2003, and bunker trader at Evrasia Bunker Ltd between 1995 and 1998.