MRPL awards one of 4 tenders: Trade
India's Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals has awarded only one of four tenders it had floated to buy as much as 2.6 mn barrels of crude oil, two trade sources said on Wednesday.
January 12, 2011 / 23:00 IST
India's Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals has awarded only one of four tenders it had floated to buy as much as 2.6 mn barrels of crude oil, two trade sources said on Wednesday.
The decision may indicate that MRPL, the biggest Indian client of Iranian crude, expects to see the resolution soon of an ongoing row with Tehran over methods of payment.The refiner has bought 650,000 barrels of Seria Light on a delivered basis from European trader Astra Oil at a premium of about USD 4.50 a barrel to dated Brent for lifting in February, the traders said.MRPL had been seeking 1.3 mn barrels each of high-sulphur or sour crude and low-sulphur or sweet oil. It floated tenders to buy two parcels a month-- one cargo each of sour and sweet grades -- for February and March.MRPL runs a 236,400 barrels per day coastal refinery in southern India and buys about 150,000 bpd of Iranian crude.Its managing director could not be reached for comment.In its previous tender floated in July, MRPL bought 600,000 barrels of Australian heavy, sweet Enfield crude from Mitsui for September lifting. India-Iran rowIndia and Iran have so far not been able to find a solution to a dispute over how New Delhi should pay for oil imports from Tehran after India's central bank said last month that the payments could no longer be settled using a long-standing clearing house system run by regional central banks.The Indian move came within weeks of a visit by US President Barack Obama to New Delhi. Washington praised the Indian change, saying it would reduce what it sees is a misuse of funds by Iran to support its nuclear activity, which the West suspects has military aims.Indian Oil Secretary S Sundareshan on Wednesday reiterated that the dispute with Iran over payment for crude oil to be settled as early as next week as a team of Indian officials travel to Tehran later this week for talks.India is looking at paying for oil imports from Iran through the yen, euro and dirham currencies, R Gopalan, secretary of financial services in India's finance ministry, said on Tuesday.Iran sells about 400,000 barrels of oil a day to India, accounting for about 13%of its crude imports. Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
