Rosneft's Kurdistan, Libya deals prompted by growing refinery needs

By

Dmitry Zhdannikov

LONDON, Feb 22 (

Reuters

) - Russian oil firm Rosneft's move to lend money to Iraq's

Kurdistan

in exchange for crude and a fresh supply deal with

Libya

are dictated by the growing needs of its refining system in Europe and Asia, trading sources say. Rosneft signed a deal this week with Kurdistan, becoming the first oil major to pre-finance crude exports from the semi-autonomous region. It also signed a crude deal with Libya. Rosneft faces a growing need in Europe for light barrels for its German refinery after a deal with partner

BP

expired last year. Under that arrangement, BP suppled all light sweet barrels to the

Ruhr Oel

refinery in

Germany

but as the deal expired Rosneft looked to get its own barrels. With the Libyan deal, volumes of predominantly sweet light crude will be taken to

Italy

's port of

Trieste

from where it will go via pipeline to refineries in Germany, trading sources said. Rosneft is also in the process of closing a deal to buy a major refinery in India - Essar, which would serve for both Libyan oil and the growing production in Kurdistan. Rosneft has two main trading partners;

Glencore

, which became a shareholder in Rosneft this year, and

Trafigura

, which has a trading venture with Rosneft and will be a co-owner of Essar. Both Glencore and Trafigura are also actively involved in pre-financing Kurdish oil exports while Glencore is a major exporter of Libyan barrels. (Reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov; editing by

Susan Thomas

)