A combination of budget and regulatory delays have heavily restricted Algerian bitumen imports so far this year, with market participants saying there have been no bitumen deliveries yet in 2024 into Algerian state-owned Sonatrach terminals.
Sonatrach has been waiting for Algerian authorities to give it permission to resume its usual and large-scale bitumen import programme, but administrative delays and issues linked at least in part to the slow approval of government budgets have meant the firm has yet to take delivery of a bitumen cargo into any of its several terminals this year.
An Algerian market participant said Sonatrach, by far the country's biggest bitumen importer, had not faced such delays in bitumen import approvals for about 20 years, but there was optimism that permission would soon be granted, possibly as early as this week.
Sonatrach runs two of its own bitumen tankers, the 5,000 deadweight tonne (dwt) Ain Zeft and the 5,016 dwt Ras Tomb. It also has the 8,021 dwt time-chartered Poestella and uses the three tankers to import bitumen cargoes into its numerous terminals —most notably Skikda, Algiers and Annaba. The firm's imports are mainly coming from Sonatrach's Augusta refinery in Sicily.
The vessels have either been experiencing long wait times since the start of the year or been used to make within-company movements of low-sulphur straight-run fuel oil instead. According to vessel tracking firm Kpler, the Ras Tomb and Ain Zeft have each made three Algiers movements to Sonatrach's Skikda refinery — likely take LSSR there as feedstock — so far this year, with two other such shipments made on board the Poestella.
Delayed approval of annual infrastructure budget allocations, including for road projects that require bitumen as part of the asphalt mix, have helped reduce overall Algerian demand. But private Algerian importers have still been able to maintain a steady flow of imports, including one recent shipment into Ghazaouet. Meanwhile, a separate private importer has agreed on first half February arrival cargoes into Djen Djen and Arzew, with such firms thought not to have been hit with the regulatory restrictions facing Sonatrach.
