BPCL buys Nigeria crude via tender

TOKYO, Mar 9 (Reuters) Bharat Petroleum Corp. (BPCL) , has bought at least 1 million barrels of Nigerian crude for May lifting, traders said on Friday.

It bought Bonny Light crude from European trader Vitol at dated Brent plus TOKYO, Mar 9 (Reuters) Bharat Petroleum Corp. (BPCL) , has bought at least 1 million barrels of Nigerian crude for May lifting, traders said on Friday.

It bought Bonny Light crude from European trader Vitol at dated Brent plus $2.00/$2.50 a barrel via a monthly tender to buy sweet crude, traders said.

It also bought May lifting Middle East sour crude in another tender which closed on the same day as the sweet tender.

The awarded grade was heard to be either Qatar's Al Shaheen or Dubai, but further details were not yet available.

Traders were closely watching the result of BPCL's sweet crude tender for market direction on whether the company and other Indian refiners, the regular buyers of Nigerian sweet grades, would continue to buy them or shift to Asia Pacific barrels after the recent shut-in of Bonny Light production in Asia's largest oil producing country.

A pipeline leak had forced Shell to shut in 10 flow stations connected to the Bonny Light export terminal, reducing output by 187,000 barrels per day (bpd) earlier this week.

Indian refiners typically buy West African crude by issuing several tenders every month. But they occasionally purchase Malaysian grades.

In the previous tender, BPCL bought Malaysian crude, for the first time in almost 10 months, picking up 600,000 barrels of Labuan for April lifting.

REUTERS CS VC1145 .00/ TOKYO, Mar 9 (Reuters) Bharat Petroleum Corp. (BPCL) , has bought at least 1 million barrels of Nigerian crude for May lifting, traders said on Friday.

It bought Bonny Light crude from European trader Vitol at dated Brent plus $2.00/$2.50 a barrel via a monthly tender to buy sweet crude, traders said.

It also bought May lifting Middle East sour crude in another tender which closed on the same day as the sweet tender.

The awarded grade was heard to be either Qatar's Al Shaheen or Dubai, but further details were not yet available.

Traders were closely watching the result of BPCL's sweet crude tender for market direction on whether the company and other Indian refiners, the regular buyers of Nigerian sweet grades, would continue to buy them or shift to Asia Pacific barrels after the recent shut-in of Bonny Light production in Asia's largest oil producing country.

A pipeline leak had forced Shell to shut in 10 flow stations connected to the Bonny Light export terminal, reducing output by 187,000 barrels per day (bpd) earlier this week.

Indian refiners typically buy West African crude by issuing several tenders every month. But they occasionally purchase Malaysian grades.

In the previous tender, BPCL bought Malaysian crude, for the first time in almost 10 months, picking up 600,000 barrels of Labuan for April lifting.

REUTERS CS VC1145 .50 a barrel via a monthly tender to buy sweet crude, traders said.

It also bought May lifting Middle East sour crude in another tender which closed on the same day as the sweet tender.

The awarded grade was heard to be either Qatar's Al Shaheen or Dubai, but further details were not yet available.

Traders were closely watching the result of BPCL's sweet crude tender for market direction on whether the company and other Indian refiners, the regular buyers of Nigerian sweet grades, would continue to buy them or shift to Asia Pacific barrels after the recent shut-in of Bonny Light production in Asia's largest oil producing country.

A pipeline leak had forced Shell to shut in 10 flow stations connected to the Bonny Light export terminal, reducing output by 187,000 barrels per day (bpd) earlier this week.

Indian refiners typically buy West African crude by issuing several tenders every month. But they occasionally purchase Malaysian grades.

In the previous tender, BPCL bought Malaysian crude, for the first time in almost 10 months, picking up 600,000 barrels of Labuan for April lifting.

REUTERS CS VC1145