A MEMBER of staff at Puma Energy has contacted The Pembrokeshire Herald to say that another crude oil tanker is heading for Puma Energy Berth Number 1, Milford Haven, from Primorsk in the Russian Federation.
The ship has made a brief two day stop at Le Havre before carrying on its journey to west Wales. The vessel, listed on the Port Authority website as having a gross tonnage of 62,508 is due to arrive on Tuesday at 21:00HRS (Mar 8).
The Port Authority has removed the column from their website showing the origins of the ships, but this information is publicly available elsewhere on vessel tracker websites.
Another anonymous caller to The Herald claimed that this removal of information was tantamount to smoke and mirrors tactics to try and conceal the origin of the vessel’s cargo.
The residents of Milford Haven have taken to social media in their hundreds saying they are against Russian Oil being unloaded in their town.
Last week, possibly due to public pressure, the Louis, carrying Russian cargo was diverted from Milford Haven to Antwerp.
In other parts of the UK dockers have been refusing to unload Russian oil. Dockworkers at the Ellesmere Port refinery in Cheshire have refused to unload Russian oil last week.
Dockers who vowed not to unload a tanker of Russian gas that was due to arrive at a Thames Estuary port in the early hours of Friday morning scored a victory, after the ship was diverted away from British waters.
The Boris Vilkitskiy was on its way to the Isle of Grain with a consignment of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for Centrica, the owner of British Gas, owing to an apparent loophole, which The Herald reported about on its front page on Friday.
Tankers carrying oil and gas are still arriving at or heading towards ports around the country and The Chancellor Rishi Sunak is expected to take a decision on banning Russian energy imports as soon as this week. The President of the USA said yesterday that the US was ready to ban Russian oil and gas as part of a unified western action following Putin’s unlawful invasion of Ukraine
SHELL OIL
On Monday (Mar 7), Shell has defended its decision to purchase Russian crude oil despite the invasion and bombardment of Ukraine.
The oil giant said in a statement that the decision to purchase the fuel at a discounted price was “difficult”.
It confirmed that it had bought a cargo of Russian crude oil on Friday, but it had “no alternative”.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba hit out at the energy company, asking on Twitter: “Doesn’t Russian oil smell Ukrainian blood for you?”
Russian oil currently makes up about 8% of Shell’s working supplies. One of the firm’s refineries, which produces diesel and petrol and other products, is also among the biggest in Europe.
“To be clear, without an uninterrupted supply of crude oil to refineries, the energy industry cannot assure continued provision of essential products to people across Europe over the weeks ahead,” a spokesperson said.
“Cargoes from alternative sources would not have arrived in time to avoid disruptions to market supply.
“We didn’t take this decision lightly and we understand the strength of feeling around it.”
The firm also said that it will try to choose alternatives to Russian oil “wherever possible”, and that profits from Russian oil will go to a dedicated fund aimed at helping people in Ukraine.
It comes shortly after the company announced that it would end all of its joint ventures with the Russian energy company Gazprom following the invasion.
That will involve the company selling its 27.5% stake in a major liquefied natural gas plant and a 50% stake in two oilfield projects in Siberia.
QUESTIONS TO THE PORT
The Herald has emailed Milford Haven Port Authority asking the following questions:
(1) Why has The Port removed details of the origins of vessels from its website in recent days?
(2) What would the Ports position be if staff refuse to unload the Russian oil, something which sources close to the matter have suggested may now happen. Would the ship be turned around like elsewhere in the UK where this has happened?
