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Petrobras Netherlands B.V. (PNBV) has this week inaugurated its office in the port city of Rotterdam.

The event was attended by Dutch Foreign Relations minister, Frank Heemskerk; Petrobras’ CEO, José Sergio Gabrielli de Azevedo; the company’s CFO and Investors Relations Director, Almir Barbassa; and PNBV Director, Samir Awad.

Petrobras has been a key player in Rotterdam for two years and is estimated to sell around 850,000 metric tonnes per year of low sulphur fuel oil (LSFO).

LSFO sales at Europe's leading bunker port are said to be between 2-2.5 million tonnes per year, which is 15-20 percent of total bunker market in Rotterdam.

The company leases storage capacity from the EuroTank Terminal and Vopak Terminal Europoort for the import of LSFO from Brazil.

The company imports approximately 600,000 metric tonnes per annum of low sulphur fuel oil with 0.8 percent sulphur content. The fuel oil is then blended with other products to make intermediate fuel oil with a maximum 1.5 percent sulphur content, thus keeping within the limits of regional Sulphur Control Area (SECA) regulations.

In May 2009, Petrobras began supplying high sulphur grade 380-centistoke (cst) - with a maximum 4.5 percent sulphur - to customers in in Rotterdam.