Mazut

Mazut is a heavy, low quality fuel oil, used in generating plants and similar applications. In the United States and Western Europe, mazut is blended or broken down with the end product being diesel.

Mazut may be used for heating houses in former USSR and in countries of Far East that do not have the facilities to blend or break it down into more traditional petro-chemicals. In the west, furnaces that burn mazut are commonly called "waste oil" heaters or "waste oil" furnaces.

Mazut-100 is a fuel oil that is manufactured to GOST specifications, for example GOST 10585-75 or 99. (GOST is the Russian system of standards, much like ASTM, for example). Mazut is almost exclusively manufactured in the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan. This product is typically used for larger boilers in producing steam since the BTU content is high. The most important consideration (not the only consideration) when grading this fuel is the sulfur content, which can mostly be affected by the source feedstock. For shipment purposes, this product is considered a ”dirty oil” product, and because viscosity drastically affect whether it is able to be pumped, shipping has unique requirements. Mazut is much like Number 6 Oil, and is part of the products left over after gasoline and lighter components are evaporated from the crude oil.

The main difference between the different types of Mazut-100 is the content of sulphur. The grades are represented by these sulfuric levels:

• ”Very Low Sulphur” is mazut with a sulphur content of 0.5%
• ”Low Sulphur” is a mazut with a sulphur content of 0.5-1.0%
• ”Normal Sulphur” is a mazut with a sulphur content of 1.0-2.0%
• ”High Sulphur” is a mazut with a sulphur content of 2.0-3.5%

Very Low Sulfur mazut is generally made from the lowest sulfur crude feedstocks. It has a very limited volume to be exported because:

• The number of producers in Russia are limited. Refineries who produce this are generally the largest of oil companies such as Lukoil and Rosneft, etc.
• A minimum of half of the total volume is sold only to the domestic market in Russia and the CIS.
• Most of the remainder of this specific product are reserved by state quotas for state controlled companies abroad.
• The remaining volumes available for export are sold according to state quotas, via state auctions, accessible only to Russian domestic companies with special access and experience with these auctions.

At present, as evidenced by the above market conditions, demand exceeds many times the available supply. In such cases, the refineries dictate terms for the sale. At present, universally, whether state controlled corporation or private company, domestic or foreign, are for total cash pre-payment, 100%, 21 days in advance of the delivery date. Said another way, the delivery date is set only after the cash payment is registered (cleared) at the refinery’s bank account. The arrangement is not negotiable with the refineries. (Please refer to producer’s own web sites for confirmation of this fact.) Low to high sulfur mazut is available from Russia and other CIS countries (Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan). The technical specifications are represented in the same way, according to the Russian GOST standard 10585-99. Many people ask the difference between origins, and the main difference is the price. The Russian origin mazut demands higher prices.