Iran Bitumen Analysis specification

Iran Bitumen Analysis

Specifications	Bitumen 40/50	Blown Bitumen 60/70	Bitumen 80/100	Penetration Bitumen 85/100	Test Method
Specific Gravity@25/25C	1.01-1.06	1.01-1.06	1.01-1.05	1.00-1.05	D-70
Penetration@25C	40/50	60/70	80/100	85/100	D-5
Softening Point C	52/60	49/56	45/52	45/52	D-36
Ductility@25C	100Min.	100min	100min	100min	D-113
Loss on Heating (wt%)	0.2Max.	0.2Max.	0.5Max.	0.5Max.	D-6
Drop in Penetration after Heating %	20Max.	20Max.	20Max.	20Max.	D-6 & D-5
Flash Point C	250Min.	250Min.	225Min.	225Min.	D-92
Solubility in (wt%)	99.5Min.	99.5Min.	99.5Min.	99.5Min.	D-4
Spot Test	Negative	Negative	Negative	Negative	A.A.A.S.H.O.T.102

American Association of Stat Highway Officials

PACKING DETAILS: For one 20’Container load, the packings are as follows

Weight	Weight per drum	Number of Drums per container	per 20 feet container
Net weight: Gross weight:	150kg(+/- 3kg)per drum 160kg(+/- 3kg)per drum	110 drums	18.5MT(+/-3%) 19.6MT(+/-3%)
Net weight: Gross weight:	180kg(+/- 3kg)per drum 190kg(+/- 3kg)per drum	110 drums	19.8MT(+/-3%) 20.9MT(+/-3%)
Net weight: Gross weight:	200kg(+/- 3kg)per drum 217kg(+/- 3kg)per drum	80 drums	16.0MT(+/-3%) 17.4MT(+/-3%)

BULK CARGO:
*For FOB Bulk,the buyer can arrange the Vessel(Tanker) at the loading at the port.
*The source of bitumen is Iran
*Loading port is always Bandar Abbas
*Shipment often is 21 to 30 days after receiving your transferable L/C (dividable LC).
*The surveyor for Bitumen is SGS

Quantity orders vs. Quality orders

one of problems bitumen buyers may experience is that in many projects you don't need more than 100-200 MT bitumen. like a small road construction or a medium road repair service, or a small refinery which produces bitumen roof seals and protection systems. While in nowadays' trade world which nobody likes to engage with many middle men and middle businesses (and indeed the communication helps you do so), for such amounts you have to go to a middle man dealer to buy a partial quantity of his load on ship. and there's a big scam here when you want to buy a small amount of bitumen, because you may encounter unqualified bitumen suppliers (while big suppliers are not interested in such deals) and small suppliers' quality sometime... sucks!

Any solution? I'll show you!
any trader and bitumen broker can provide such quantity in less than a week. in fact, there are always less than 500MT availabilities in ports while we are collecting a big order. the problem with your tiny order is not availability, it's the payment. if you are ready to pay cash on delivery or cash in advance, and if you handle the shipment yourself, there you are. all you need to do is to contact reputable dealers you know and mention you need that amount for first bid and you pay in cash and get the bitumen in the port (not FOB)

after you bought the bitumen, you should be able to contact a shipping line or a forwarder, pay the shipping cost and the THC (Terminal Handling Charge in Iran is roughly 45 USD per 20feet container) and get the Bill of Ladings yourself.

Consultancy service buying bitumen from Iran

I’ve experienced many different problems regarding payments, delivery, SGS inspections etc with international bitumen traders. To be honest it’s also hard to work with Iranian suppliers since they show minimum flexibility in negotiations and making agreements. obviously, a major part of these problems and non flexibilities are due to sanctions on Iran, economic embargoes etc. What I can provide your firms in this conditions to ease the process of buying and importing bitumen from Iran, is consultancy service including:

• Quoting from various reliable sources
• Negotiation and signing contract with chosen supplier
• Banking issues:

1. Dividing your transferable LC from world prime banks through our Bank in Dubai or Cyprus
2. OR: receiving your LC in Iranian banks from international banks who are able to issue such LC
   

• SGS and Insurance services
• Transportation, ocean freight and Terminal Handling services
• Drumming process supervisory

Please feel free to contact me for further information: emad @ irxp.com

Iran Bitumen - risks again with an alert

as I mentioned in my previous post, buying bitumen from uncertified and small workshops is risky. below you see an alert posted by Mr. Aghili, Iran Bitumen Analyst and trader:

Recently, and in the past disastrous results of road projects at the hands of emerging rings of smugglers are being revealed simply by the result of Road Projects world-wide. Due to demand for very low prices there are many of these rings increasing in today’s Bitumen market and this is why the legitimate suppliers are finding it harder and harder to compete with them.

What the smugglers do is place Mazut, Gilsonite, or Crude in the bottom of the drums before bitumen is poured on top. It is said up to 20, 40 or even 50% of the said impurities are placed on the bottom of each drums before 100% pure NIOC bitumen is poured on top. What occurs then is that SGS comes in and takes samples from the top, and gives them the SGS certification. The road contractor uses it, let's say in Sudan in their Road project not knowing that within 7 to 12 months the road which they have produced at heavy costs and time constructed will begin to fall apart in patches across the entire paved road. Many which use equipment to apply the impure bitumen are complaining of clogs in their equipment’s pipes a well.

Because, the cost of Mazut is 35.00 USD per MT and Bitumen much more. They save actually 300 USD x 500 KG which is 150.00 USD per MT. Naturally the can outbid any true supplier any time they wish. Our estimates in the past had been 20% impurities which would save them 68.00 USD per MT based on the present market rates of 335.00 USD per MT in Bulk.

We are obtaining pictures of disaster jobs as we speak to reveal them to our clients and Agents world wide. Please be patient for this.

If anyone is offering Bitumen at 10.00 USD more or less than a reliable supplier, we can say it is expected, but when someone offers 30.00 USD or 50.00 USD per MT less or more then they are actually doing it below our own cost. We base this based on our profit margin after costs of drumming and all other associated costs of exporting the bitumen. Our profit margin is no more than 20.00 USD per MT inclusive of 5.00 USD per MT for unforeseen costs or we add this to the profit margin. This all depends on the market trends.

We should not have to battle the people whom we work with, but the people whom we work with, should believe in us and educate buyers of the reason prices are as such. We would like to state that the people selling at incredible rates are very questionable. The projects which the false bitumen is prepared with last no longer then 7 to 12 months maximum.

Presently our union is gathering more information on such suppliers and confronting them where possible.

Unfortunately, SGS inspection will not break open a new steel drum unless there is previous suspicion. With these companies functioning with multiple names even that will be a small deterrent.

buying bitumen from Iran

many traders trying to find contacts in Iran, experience a similar problem: different prices from different companies. what's the point?

the bitumen prices in Iran, like all other commodities: gold, silver, sugar, base oil etc, are considered in Stock exchange (Iran Mercantile Exchange market: www.ime.co.ir which we are a certified broker over there.) So the price we provide is: price at IME + drumming costs + transportation

Our profit is maximum 5-7%, so other's prices shouldn't be able to differ so much. but they do.
the reason is small workshops and bitumen producers and some cheating traders!

What’s the risk of buying from them? 1- quality 2- they cannot supply big amounts

If you don’t care about quality (see our quality tests) or you don’t want big amounts in a long term business, that’s fine, you can get lower prices.

Another warning you should be concern about is drumming plants who mix Jey refinery bitumen with self produced bitumen. you even can't trust SGS reports they provide. so make sure to know your business partner and do a visit to their drumming plant before you buy.

new prices and new availability

Prices of bitumen are down to earth these days and I don't think it would come lower. we have a new ability to sell bulk bitumen since our company has signed a contract with a bulk career transportation company. the new prices are:

Bulk Bitumen FOB Bandar Abbas: 363 USD per MTon
Bitumen in poly bags FOB Bandar Abbas: 374 USD per MTon
New steel drums FOB Bandar Abbas: 406 USD per MTon

new payment term: LC at sight from Iranian banks (Bank of Saderat has branches in UAE, India, London and many other countries)

Iranian Bitumen may be more expensive that Saudi or Russian Bitumen, but it's believed the quality has the worth to pay more. this is the reason UAE government buys most of its bitumen needs from Iran, Jey refinery.

Bitumen market statistics in October 2008

Bitumen market is getting hotter since the oil prices have fallen to more reasonable levels. in October the market in some major importers and exporters had below results. for any Iran Bitumen inquiry please send your inquiries to emad@irxp.com or call +98 912 149 6126
the FOB price for bitumen 60/70 and 85/100 in new steel drums is 485 USD per MTon.
beneath report is some parts of Petrosil Group monthly report on Bitumen market. visit their website: www.petrosil.com for a full report.

China imported 255285 MT of bitumen in October 2008 and so far this year from January to October 2008, the country has imported roughly 2.8 million MT of bitumen. Most of the bitumen has been imported from Korea followed by Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand and Japan. CFR prices of imported bitumen are arriving at a price of US$ 300 – 310 PMT and domestic refiners have been reducing prices like other regional producers in line with weaker crude oil prices. Demand in the country has been mixed with cold weather preventing construction work in parts of China.

Japan imported 19469 MT and exported 4263 MT of bitumen in October 2008. So far this year from January to October, total import has been 213141 MT and total export has been 155416 MT. Most of the bitumen exported from the country gets imported by China. With prices to China falling rapidly, Japan opts to sell most of the bitumen produced in the domestic market. Japan’s peak monthly export in 2008 was in June when the country exported 36009 MT. Since then, export volumes have been falling consistently. Japan hopes to see higher demand and stable prices before initiating exports to China once again. FOB bulk bitumen prices are currently in the range of US$ 285 – 295 PMT.

Iranian bitumen prices have fallen to US$ 380 – 390 for bulk bitumen and US$ 480 – 490 PMT for drummed bitumen. Iran has been exporting approximately 10,000 MT of bitumen a week and selling far larger quantities in the domestic market. Last year, Iran exported roughly 692000 MT of bitumen and sold 3.6 million MT in the domestic market. Pasargad Oil and Jey refining have been closing deals regularly on the Iranian Mercantile Exchange. The latest offers on the exchange have Pasargad Oil offering bulk bitumen for export at an FOB price of Us$ 385 PMT while Jey Oil has offered bulk bitumen at a price of US$ 360 PMT Ex Work Esfahan Refinery. The Iranian Mercantile Exchange has effectively brought the price of domestic bitumen and exported bitumen prices closer together resulting in less smuggling and more bitumen available for export. Iran’s main bitumen grades which are exported include grade 40/50, 60/70 and 85/100. The country exports around 52% of the total volume in bulk and 48% in drums.

Please feel free to contact me for any Iranian bitumen inquiry: send emails to emad@irxp.com