Indian Oil Corp seeks various June sweet grades

Singapore, Apr 4: Indian Oil Corp. (IOC) has issued a crude import tender for June-loading, seeking various sweet grades from all regions, a further sign it may be looking at diversifying its refining slate, traders said on Wednesday.

Grade offers are due on Monday and are to remain valid until Wednesday, the source added.

''This tender is very different. It basically includes sweet crude, but from various regions, like North Sea, West Africa, Mediterranean and regional. There are so many grades,'' the trader said.

IOC's diversification drive comes as it completes a facility at Mundra that will allow it to blend cheap, low-quality crude with its usual slate of more expensive West African grades, traders have said.

India's largest state refiner IOC bought a Very Large Crude Carrier of Angolan crude in its previous tender.

It also bought last month 1 million barrels of Libyan sweet Essider crude in a tender for end-April and May loading, a rare purchase from the North African country and the latest sign of IOC varying its crude imports.

The company also bought Ecuadorean heavy sour crude last month, likely for the first time, and April-loading Neutral Zone Ratawi sour crude earlier.

IOC, which has about 10 refineries spread across India for a total capacity of 1.204 million barrels per day, tenders several times a month for crude.

Reuters