Russia to raise gas oil export ahead of new EU rules

By Maxim Nazarov

MOSCOW, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Russian gas oil exports via pipelines will rise in December as refiners rush to evacuate more product before the European Union introduces new stricter quality rules for diesel from January, traders say.

Traders polled by Reuters this and last week said gas oil exports will rise from the Ufa group of independent refineries and the Samara group of plants of state-controlled Rosneft (ROSN.MM).

"In December, everybody will try to load as much as possible into the pipeline and then to export a maximum amount," an Ufa trader said.

New European Union standards will halve sulphur content allowed in diesel for heating needs to 1,000 parts per million or 0.1 percent.

State diesel pipeline firm Transnefteproduct (TNP), which ships around 18 million tonnes of diesel a year via Latvia's Ventspils on the Baltic Sea and Black Sea ports, has said it will fail to cut sulphur content from the current 2,000 ppm by the New Year.

Traders expect Russian 2,000 ppm diesel to end up at Europe's refineries for deeper processing or being blended with higher quality grades for heating needs.

A TNP source also said pipeline exports from Ufa might hit a new high in December.

"Ufa plans to load into the pipeline at least as much as it did in November, which was a record," said the source, adding the TNP pipeline for Ufa had some 160,000 tonnes of free capacity.