ONGC offers April, May naphtha cargoes

SINGAPORE, Mar 28 (Reuters) Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) has issued tenders to sell a naphtha cargo each for April and May, helping the country to boost exports next month back to its 2006 monthly average, documents showed on Wednesday.

ONGC has offered 35,000 tonnes for April 16-18 loading from Jawahar Lal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) in Mumbai, pushing India's April naphtha exports up to 520,000 tonnes.

The refiner offered another 35,000-tonne cargo for May 7-8 loading from Hazira on the West Coast, lifting the country's naphtha exports for May to about 150,000 tonnes so far.

The two tenders will close on April 3, with the validity remaining until April 4, the document said.

ONGC's last tender to sell a Mumbai-loading cargo for late March was awarded to Emirates National Oil Co. (ENOC) at a high premium of about a tonne to Middle East spot quotes, on a free-on-board (FOB) basis, due to shortages after India exported less than 500,000 tonnes of naphtha earlier this year.

From Hazira, the refiner sold one cargo for late April at around a tonne above the same quotes, FOB, to South Korea's SK Corp. earlier this month.

Naphtha's premium against Brent crude had hit a record-high of 0 a tonne early this month, before easing to 5 levels on Tuesday as more supplies were expected from Europe.

REUTERS CS HT1830