India buys 5mn bbls of WAfrica, Malaysia crude

Singapore, Oct 30: Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has bought 4 million barrels of West African crude and possibly around 1 million barrels of Malaysian crude, which would make it the state-run refiner's largest single purchase in almost two months, traders said on Monday.

India's largest state oil refiner bought two Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) of West African crude, together with Malaysian grades, traders said.

Traders said IOC had likely bought a VLCC of Nigerian Bonny Light crude from a European trader, together with another VLCC comprising Nigerian Escravos and Angolan Girassol crude, from a U.S. major.

One trader said the refiner may have bought Bonny Light crude from two European traders and no Escravos or Girassol crude.

The deals had yet to be confirmed.

The Malaysian crude would comprise around 500,000 barrels of Miri crude and a similar volume of Labuan.

The tender had been for end-November and December loading cargoes and came on the heels of IOC's purchase of 3.1 million barrels in a similar tender awarded earlier this month.

IOC rarely buys Asia-Pacific crude but already stepped in earlier this month to purchase 1.1 million barrels of Malaysian grades.

Rival Hindustan Petroleum also bought Malaysian crude for December loading in its monthly tender.

Falling Tapis APPI assessments, which are the benchmark for light sweet Asia-Pacific grades, and lower Tapis paper swaps, have attracted Indian refiners' interest, with the spread between Tapis APPI and Brent for December falling below $4 a barrel.

The Tapis/Brent Exchange of Futures for Swaps (EFS) for December has fallen to around $1.90 a barrel, from above $5 in September, indicating falling swaps values for Tapis.

Reuters