THE UDTA IS DEAD
Buyers of fuel products, who plan to use their exit buyer’s logistics, are “flippers”. They are always seeking procedures that give them a (less than 48 hours old) Fresh SGS report, and an Unconditional Dip Test Authorization (UDTA) which means no conditions prevent them from testing the fuel, getting Proof of Product (POP) before they are required to make any payments for the fuel.
Finding a true, Unconditional Dip Test Authorization (UDTA) doesn’t exist in Rotterdam anymore. Even if the procedures, you negotiate with your supplier, don’t state that a TSA or tank farm endorsement of the TSA is required, the Port Authority now is frequently requiring the buyer’s Tank Farm to issue an Authorization to Verify (ATV) their Tank Storage Agreement (TSA) before they will admit the buyer into the tank farm to do test the fuel.
Post-September 2018, this is a condition. Therefore, the UDTA is non-existent. To get a (DTA), the port authority in Rotterdam requires a tank farm endorsed TSA, essentially a Notice of Readiness NOR, be provided, which depending on your tank farm, can cost you 10K-85K before you can get in to test the fuel.
Just because the procedures state UDTA, doesn’t mean that the Port Authority will let you enter to dip the product, without the Port Authorities “condition” that your TSA be endorsed. Why? Because if your Exit buyer fails to pay for the fuel in a timely manner or has a problem with their TSR, the fuel will be moved into your leased tank farm and you as a flipper need to have the money to pay for the tanks.
Most flippers, aren’t prepared financially for delays or defaults, and the number of failed transactions in 2018 was backing up the port, which is why the Port Authority is now essentially requiring NOR’s on buyer’s TSA’s even if they never plan to use their own tanks as they are planning to exit to their exit’s tank farm.
OIL & GAS TANK STORAGE SERVICE PROVIDERS’ LIST
The importance of Rotterdam Port as oil & gas terminal cannot be overemphasized. All major oil & gas trading companies use the storage facilities at Rotterdam round the year. That also makes it an extremely difficult to access easily.
Understanding Oil Storage
An Oil Terminal (also called a Tank Farm, Oil Installation or Oil Depot) is an industrial facility for the storage of oil, petroleum and petrochemical products, and from which these products are transported to end users or other storage facilities. An oil terminal typically has a variety of above or below ground tankage; facilities for inter-tank transfer; pumping facilities; loading gantries for filling road tankers or barges; ship loading/unloading equipment at marine terminals; and pipeline connections. Oil terminals may be located close to, or be part of, oil refineries; or be located in coastal locations where marine tankers can discharge or load cargo. Some terminals are connected to pipelines from which they draw or discharge their products.
Terminals can also be served by rail, barge and road tanker (sometimes known as “bridging”). Oil terminals are also located near cities from which road tankers transport products to petrol stations or other domestic, commercial or industrial users.
In most oil terminals there is no processing or other product transformation on site. The products from a refinery which are stored in the terminal are in their final form suitable for delivery to customers. Blending of products may be undertaken, and additives may be injected into products, but there is usually no manufacturing plant on site. Modern terminals have a high degree of site automation. Marine oil terminals have jetties to provide a deep water mooring for tankers. Jetties have loading/unloading arms for transferring cargo to/from ship to shore. Facilities for vapor recovery may be provided. Some oil terminals receive crude oil production from offshore installations. Crude oil received by pipeline may have been ‘spiked’ with natural gas liquids (NGL), and is known as live crude. Such oil needs to be processed or stabilized to remove the lighter fractions such as ethane, propane and butane to produce a dead or stabilized crude that is suitable for storage and transport. Such oil terminals may include processing facilities to treat the oil to achieve an oil Reid vapor pressure (RVP) of 10 to 12 psi (70 to 82 kPa). The process facilities include oil heaters to warm the oil which then routed to separator vessels. In the separators the lighter fractions flash off from the oil and are further processed to separate them into their individual components. The now stabilized oil can be routed to storage and then sold or sent for further processing.
The storage tanks at an oil terminal may includes fixed roof tanks, internal floating roof tanks and external floating roof tanks. Floating roof tanks are generally used for more volatile products to reduce evaporation loss. Fixed roof tanks which have a vapor space above the product and which breathes in or out as the product is removed or the tank is filled. Some tank may be fitted with internal heating coils using hot water or steam to keep the contents warm. This reduces the viscosity of the product to ease transfer and pumping. Terminals may also have ‘Horton spheres’ which are used to store liquefied petroleum gases such as propane and butane.
Here is list of credible and reputed oil tanking companies :
DISCLAIMER
PLEASE CHECK AND VERIFY THE CREDIBILITY OF INDIVIDUAL FARMS BEFORE ENTERING INTO ANY KIND OF REALTIONSHIP. GENERAL TRADING DOES NOT RECOMMEND TO ITS CLIENTS ANY SERVICE PROVIDERS. THE LIST ABOVE IS ONLY TO FACILITATE INFORMATION.
LINKS TO VARIOUS BLACK LISTS AND SCAM ALERT SITES
FERM : https://ferm-rotterdam.nl/nl/blacklist
IP TRACKER : https://www.ip-tracker.org/blacklist-check.php?ip=5.200.14.150
OIL BUYERS’ BLACK LIST: http://www.ofertas-commodities.com/black-list.htm
BLACKLIST : http://www.inblacklist.pro/
PETROFINDER: http://www.petrofinder.com/carbon/carbon_list.php
NASAA : http://www.nasaa.org/6782/oil-gas-investment-fraud/
FRAUD GUIDES: https://www.fraudguides.com/investments/oil-and-gas-scams/
OILSCAMS: https://www.fraudguides.com/investments/oil-and-gas-scams/
SCAM SURVIVORS: https://www.scamsurvivors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=15346
STOP 419: http://419advancefeefraud.blogspot.com/2013/12/russian-oil-scammers.html
RUSSIAN OIL SCAMMERS: http://russianoilscammers.blogspot.com/
BLACK LIST TRITON: http://alexb.at.ua/files/2010_Blacklist_from_Gazprom-6_1.pdf
SCAMWARNERS: https://www.scamwarners.com/?t=55999
STAR CONSTRUCTION: http://starconstruction21.blogspot.com/
SOME MORE SITES BELOW:
http://www.rosneft.com/Investors/beware/
HOW SCAMMERS OPERATE
Scams involve the setting up of fake websites for various imaginary oil, energy, mineral, agrochemical, natural gas and coal companies. To support the scam, fake government, associations, banks, law firms, tank terminals, shipping companies, and due diligence websites are also set up. The purpose is to induce the victim into paying advance fees for non-existent oil or other commodities. Fake documents are sent to the potential victim as further inducement. Many scammers will request an advance payment or fee amounting to a large sum of money, before any oil is delivered, since, of course, no oil will ever be delivered. The fee is usually for some fake government or association allocation code, license fee, tax, contract servicing, authorization fee, mandate seller fee, down payment, federation fee, government ministry fee, pipeline fee, transportation company fee, etc. The fake advance fees are only limited by the scammer’s imagination, so keep in mind that ANY request for an advance fee is likely a scam! Frequently, the scammers request the fake fees be paid to some fake government officials or oil association agents through a fake websites. These scammers will state that such payment or fees are “customary.” They are not! ANY ADVANCE FEE IS LIKELY TO BE A SCAM!
The most prevalent of the scams in the commodities and trading sector has been the trend of email hacking and faking. A chain of correspondence between Party A and Party B arranging payment for the sale of goods, for example, is intercepted by hackers who then impersonate the parties using a very slightly altered email address so as not to arouse suspicion. Typically the hackers then advise Party A that the payment account details have been changed and Party A transfers sums to the wrong account. These altered account details are very often not suspicious in and of themselves. The fraudster’s email account may be as subtle as a single letter change to the email domain name. It is not hard to see how even the most sophisticated business may fall victim to such fraud.
Basic checks can help to prevent such fraud, including checking email addresses carefully particularly if there is a change in tone of correspondence or a change to payment details and checking any requested changes to account details via telephone (ideally with a known individual) with your counterparty. Having a strict policy of rigorous checks on account changes can go a long way to solving the problem. Even with the most extensive training procedures for staff, mistakes can still happen and there is no question that, as monitoring techniques improve, fraudsters will find alternative ways of disrupting business for financial gain.
ROTTERDAM PORT – A BRIEF INTRODUCTION
The Rotterdam port ranks third behind Asian giants, Shanghai and Singapore ports being first and second respectively. The Rotterdam port has been a pivotal marine infrastructural point in Europe right from the last 13thcentury where a hamlet was created specifically to cater to the fishing industry of that era.
Over the next century, the port’s importance and relevance had increased considerably because of a canal construction which further enhanced the port’s reach to countries like Great Britain and Germany to its north.
After experiencing several highs and lows because of international conflicts and wars, the Rotterdam port once again thrived during the mid-1900s, especially after the culmination of the Second World War saw a thorough rejuvenation of the shipping sector.
In terms of accessibility, the port is well connected through rail networks and road networks. In the latter part of the 19th century, in order to connect the Southern part of Netherlands to the port, a rail route was built from the port across to the River Meuse as a part of the port’s development plans. This over-bridge accentuated the port’s connectivity and outreach.
Having an area of over 100 square kilometres, the Rotterdam port has a length of 40 kilometres with a pier lengthof about 89 kilometres. Along with more than 20 moorages and over 120 bulwarks, the Rotterdam port has nearly 95 depots disambiguated for liquid and dry cargo, cruise liners and also for vessels navigating internally. Along with this, the port also has tug boat facilities (29) and piloting boat facilities (six).
Under the operational authority of the Port of Rotterdam Authority, the port has undergone various constructional developments. The most prominent one of these is the Maasvlakte 2 harbour, which is expected to begin operations in the coming couple of years. A tank depot known as Boltek is also expected to get a constructional boost. This construction, to widen the area of the depot by five hectares, began this year and is expected to be completed by 2013.
The port’s security systems are top-notch and meet all the requirements of the ISPS regulations set by the international maritime authority. In addition to this, screening systems for containers and television monitors to oversee the entire port have also been equipped in the port to ensure safety.
In the year 2010, the port saw an output of more than 400 million tons of cargo while further increase in output is expected to come the port’s way for the year 2011. These positive figures are the highlight of the port’s sustenance in the international maritime community, following a bleak time-period experienced in 2008 and 2009.
Rotterdam Port – General Trading