Morgan Stanley renews U.S. oil storage deal ahead of trading unit sale

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley's commodities group has renewed a refined product storage deal with TransMontaigne Partners L.P. seven months early, as the Wall Street bank plans to sell its physical oil business.

In a statement on Wednesday, TransMontaigne said Morgan Stanley Capital Group extended its lease agreements for about 2.7 million barrels of refined product storage in Mississippi.

The move came about seven months before the contract was about to expire. The new agreement for the terminals located in Collins/Purvis, Mississippi will be effective Jan. 1, 2016, TransMontaingne said.

Morgan Stanley declined to comment.

The news comes as the bank continues to seek a buyer for its physical oil business after a deal to sell it to Russian oil company Rosneft fell apart last year.

Last week, it reshuffled the leadership of the physical oil trading business, naming Thomas Simpson and Fabrizio Zichichi as co-heads and replacing Michael Brennan.

Morgan Stanley will still act as a middleman for clients who want to trade physical commodities, but the bank no longer wants to own, operate or store products itself.

(Reporting By Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

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