PDVSA To Sell Bunker Fuels On Internet

Venezuelan's Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) will begin selling bunker fuel via two Internet sites later this month, its first sales project across the Web, a company official said. PDVSA will offer fuel from its terminal in Freeport, Grand Bahamas Island to shipping companies via two industry Internet sites: www.oceanconnect.com and www.bunkerstem.com. "I believe that before the end of the month, in one or two weeks, we will be selling fuel (over the Internet)," said Rafael Vilagut, commercial support manager for the project. PDVSA hopes to expand the sales project later this year to sell bunker fuels from its other terminals on the Venezuelan coast. The company will also consider selling cargoes of other fuels via the Internet. Vilagut estimated that within a few years PDVSA could transact around a fifth of all its total bunker sales across the Internet. At present, PDVSA sells approximately $150 million a year of bunker fuels, he said.