Indian refiners secure crude, LPG supplies till August despite Iran war

Indian refiners have secured enough crude to meet their needs through at ​least August despite disruptions from the Iran war after ​stepping up purchases in recent weeks from Abu Dhabi National Oil ‌Co (ADNOC) and other sellers, industry sources said.

Refiners in the world's third-largest oil-importing and consuming nation have been lifting ADNOC crude and liquefied petroleum gas cargoes via ship-to-ship transfer on a free-on-board basis, the sources said.

ADNOC is offering crude cargoes from Fujairah storage, Zirku, or Das Island, as well as via ship-to-ship transfer in the Fujairah to Sohar area and Malaysia. LPG is mostly sold from Sohar.

 

"We are well covered on the LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) front at least till mid-July, and ‌crude is not a problem," an Indian refinery source said, declining to be named as they were not authorised to speak with the media.

State-run Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) has purchased 4 million barrels of Murban crude from the United Arab Emirates for August delivery from Totsa, the trading arm of TotalEnergies, and Mercuria, trade sources said on Thursday.

The crude was priced at ​a premium of about 40 cents per barrel to the July Dated Brent benchmark, one ‌of the sources said.

Last week, HPCL bought 2 million barrels of crude from Brazil and West Africa for its 180,000-barrel-per-day Rajasthan refinery, ​traders ‌said.

Other Indian refiners, including Indian Oil Corp and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd, ‌have also purchased crude through spot tenders in recent weeks. [O/TEND]

After supplies from the Middle East were disrupted as the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran ‌in ​late February restricted ​shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, Indian refiners turned to imports from Latin America and Africa. The refiners also got some supplies ‌from Saudi Arabia.