* Urals cargo organic chloride content around 150 ppm
* Russia's acceptable level is just 6 ppm
(Adds detail)
By Gleb Gorodyankin
MOSCOW, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Rosneft Trading SA, a subsidiary
of Russian oil producer Rosneft, has sold a 100,000
tonne cargo of contaminated oil to energy trader Vitol
with a discount of more than $25 per barrel to dated
Brent, traders said on Tuesday.
The hefty discount is far more than Russian pipeline
monopoly Transneft's offer of $15 per barrel to
compensate for the excessive organic chloride content in oil.
A high level of organic chloride was found in late April in
Russia's Druzhba (Friendship) pipeline, which connects Siberian
oilfields with Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, Czech Republic
and Hungary. It was also detected in the Baltic Sea port of
Ust-Luga.
The crisis hit Russian oil output for months and has drawn
multi-million compensation claims from buyers.
President Vladimir Putin said the incident had undermined
Russia's image as reliable supplier of energy products.
Up to 5 million tonnes of crude may have been contaminated
by organic chloride, which is used in oil extraction. Traders
such as Glencore and BP, have been struggling to
sell the tainted oil.
Traders said the cargo of Russia's flagship Urals blend
contained around 150 parts-per-million (ppm) of organic chloride
content and was loaded on the Searanger tanker.
Russia's acceptable level of contamination is just 6 ppm.
According to Reuters data, the Urals cargo was first loaded
in the Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga on April 30, while Glencore
was the offtaker of the cargo.
Trading sources say that Glencore had planned to deliver the
cargo to Rosneft Trading SA for further supplies to Rosneft's
European refineries.
However, Rosneft declined to receive the oil, while Glencore
failed to find a buyer.
Subsequently, Rosneft Trading SA was forced to tender the
cargo, which was snatched by Vitol, traders said.
Rosneft and Vitol did not respond to request for immediate
comment.
(Reporting by Gleb Gorodyankin; writing by Vladimir Soldatkin;
editing by Jason Neely)