India BPCL sells 50KT at steady price

Singapore, Sep 29: India's Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (BPCL) has sold via tender two October-November fuel oil cargoes totalling 50,000 tonnes at steady prices, traders said on Friday.

The 380-centistoke (cst) cargoes, for Oct. 10-14 and Oct.

30-Nov. 1 loading from Kochi, were sold to Vitol and Cargill respectively at a discount of - a tonne to Singapore spot quotes, on a free-on-board (FOB) basis.

The refiner earlier sold a similar parcel, of 4.5 percent sulphur and 0.995 kg per cubic metre density, to Vitol at a discount of - a tonne to Singapore spot quotes, FOB for end-September loading.

''From our perspective, the current price levels are still quite bad as we would normally sell at single-digit discounts.

With the current deals, that's three parcels at these poor levels,'' a company official said.

''Going forward, we would try our best not to show any spot tenders in the fourth quarter and minimise exports. Most of the surplus will be absorbed into bitumen production as the fourth quarter is bitumen season.'' The current price levels are higher than last month when the market fell to its worst-ever slump. Indian refiners had to cancel five consecutive tenders before concluding one at a record-low discount of below a tonne, traders said.

However, prices are still low compared to typical levels of minus - a tonne to spot quotes.

October Western inflows were at year-low levels of 1.1-1.2 million tonnes, well below peak volumes seen in June-August averaging about 3 million tonnes for each month.

Singapore inventories fell to a 16-week low under 11 million barrels (1.69 million tonnes) this week, down about 1.3 million barrels from week-ago levels as inflows recede.

However, the upside is limited by a large supply overhang of about 1 million tonnes, held on interim floating storages offshore Singapore.

Indian volumes, sold or offered for October, were also high at 305,000 tonnes, about 60 percent more than October 2005.

Reuters