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Amnesty international and greenpeace netherlands
Chapter 2
However, for reasons that are not clear , Trafigura decided not to proceed with the Merox process but instead to undertake caustic washing. This is something the company had been considering since at least the end of 2005. An email between Trafigura executives, dated 27 December 2005, stated:
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We need to list locations that allow caustic washing – if… hadn’t informed us we would [sic] still wouldn’t know about it- as I don’t think we have scratched the surface of caustic washing 42 yet.
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Trafigura was well aware that this process would produce toxic waste. This is clear from the company’s internal emails, one of which referred explicitly to the fact that, “US/ Singapore and European terminals no longer allow the use of caustic soda washes since local environmental agencies do not allow disposal of the toxic caustic after treatment.”43
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US/Singapore and European terminals no longer allow the use of caustic soda washes since local environmental agencies do not allow disposal of the toxic caustic after treatment. Trafigura
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The significance of sulphur content: a cheap and dirty gasoline One of the key factors in determining the price of oil is its sulphur content, particularly for gasoline or petrol used in cars. The sulphur content of gasoline is regulated to protect the environment and human health. Only very low sulphur gasoline can be sold at the pump in the EU and North America, though gas or petrol with much higher sulphur content is often sold 32.065 in many developing countries.46 Coker naphtha contains far higher levels of sulphur than conventional fuels. For example, gasoline or petrol and gasoil/diesel sold in the EU has to have a sulphur content below 10 parts per million (ppm). Coker naphtha can have a sulphur content of several thousand ppm (1,000-3,000 is a range commonly reported).
sulphur
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In an internal email, dated 28 December 2005, sent to colleagues and Trafigura’s chairman, Claude Dauphin, a London-based employee noted that:
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This operation [caustic washing] is no longer allowed in EU/US and Singapore. Caustic washes are banned by most countries due to the hazardous nature of the waste (mercaptans, phenols, smell) and suppliers of caustic are unwilling to dispose of the waste since there are not many facilities remaining in the market. There is a company in Rotterdam that burns such waste in a high stack chimney and charges are approx $200/kg and could have upto [sic] 1000kgs of sludge after a treatment operation. Under EU law you [are] no longer allowed to transport such waste across 44 EU borders.
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Despite Trafigura’s significant international profile, it was able to identify only two companies worldwide willing to undertake the caustic washing process. According to an email sent by Trafigura’s London office on 28 December 2005:
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I have approached all our storage terminals with the possibility of caustic washing and only Vopak [at] Fujairah and Tankmed [at] La Skhirra 45 our [sic] willing to entertain the idea.
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So, while senior Trafigura executives were clear that they wanted to buy the coker naphtha because of the substantial profit it would bring, they were also aware right from the start that it would be difficult, firstly to find a facility to carry out the cheaper refining process, and secondly to find a company to dispose of the resulting waste.