Baltic States – CIS, Energy, Latvia, Oil, Transport

LatRosTrans explained the reduction by the overall decline in cargo handling in the Baltic states.

"Last year Latvian ports experienced a decrease in all types of Russian transit cargos, with the exception of coal. The reduction in transportation of Russian oil products is partly due to the redirection of the main cargo flows to the Russian sea ports, the geopolitical aspects and internal changes in the Russian oil product market," LatRosTrans sad.

Moreover, the amount of oil products transported from Belarus also fell year-on-year and the Latvian and Lithuanian railway companies had to compete for transportation of those cargos.

LatRosTrans priorities at the moment are to stop the decline of cargos, to ensure proper maintenance of the equipment and to prevent thefts from the pipelines.

As reported, in 2016 LatRosTrans generated EUR 10.491 million in turnover at a 20% drop from 2015, and its profit shrank nearly threefold to EUR 963,486.

LatRosTrans operates Polotsk-Ventspils and Polotsk-Mazeikiai pipelines leading to the port of Ventspils in north-western Latvia and Mazeikiai oil refinery in Lithuania.

LatRosTrans shareholders are the Latvian holding company Ventspils Nafta (66%) and the Russian oil pipeline operator Transneftprodukt (34%).