HPCL sells Oct fuel oil at steady levels

Singapore, Oct 6: Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (HPCL) has sold 30,000-40,000 tonnes of late-October fuel oil at steady prices via tender, as the market recovers from its worst-ever slump, traders said on Friday.

The 380-centistoke (cst) cargo, for Oct. 22-31 loading from its Mumbai refinery was sold to Vitol at a discount of around - a tonne to Singapore spot quotes, on a free-on-board (FOB) basis.

The refiner had also withdrawn a second similar parcel, of 0.99 kg per cubic metre density and 4.5 percent sulphur, which had been for lifting on Nov. 1-10.

The state refiner last sold a similar parcel about a week ago at a discount of around a tonne to Singapore spot quotes, FOB.

''The current discount levels are still quite deep, compared to typical levels, but it is a substantial improvement over last month's really poor prices,'' a Singapore-based Asian trader said.

''At least prices are decent enough that the Indian refiners want to do deals and offer more cargoes. Every single one of them has either sold or offered cargoes in the past two weeks or so. They are still complaining about low prices but at least they are doing deals.'' Two other refiners -- Mangalore Refinery&Petrochemicals Ltd. (MRPL) and Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (BPCL) have completed sales in the past week while Indian Oil Corp. (IOC) has an outstanding tender that will expire later this evening.

However, transaction levels for Indian cargoes are still low compared to typical levels of minus - a tonne to spot quotes.

Indian volumes, sold or offered for October including the current offer, were at a year high of 345,000 tonnes, about 80 percent more than October 2005.

Reuters