A refinery in Ballsh, Albania, and its associated API Group I base oil plant has been idled since January because of irregular crude oil supply.
The supply was interrupted because Tosk Energji, the refinerys operator, did not conclude a crude oil purchase agreement for 2019 with Bankers Petroleum, a Canadian-Chinese company and the largest crude oil supplier in Albania, according to reports from local media.
Tosk and Bankers Petroleum both declined to answer questions from Lube Report.
Local media reports quoted Bankers as saying that Tosk was late throughout 2018 with payments for crude feedstock and that it had not paid for scheduled for this year.
Tosk Energji bought a lease for the Ballsh refinery from the Albanian government in March 2018. Ionian Refining and Trading Co. previously operated the refinery.
The refinery has crude throughput capacity of 1 million tons per year. Its base oil plant is one of Europes smallest virgin base oil sources with capacity of 40,000 t/y.
Photo courtesy of Ionian Refining and Trading Co.
