Indian Oil Buys 165,000 Tonnes Aug Diesel

State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has bought a total of 165,000 tonnes of high speed diesel in its spot tender for August delivery from Shell and Mobil, traders said on Monday. IOC also cancelled its term tenders to buy diesel and kerosene for August 1997-March 1998 deliveries due to relatively high offers, they said.

Traders said IOC bought one 45,000 tonne 1.0 per cent sulphur diesel at $1.75 per barrel over to Mid-East spot quotes from Mobil and two 0.5 per cent cargoes from Shell at 35 cents and 50 cents over Singapore quotes, all on a cost-and-freight (c-and-f) basis to the east coast.

IOC also acquired a 30,000 tonne 1.0 per cent sulphur cargo from Shell at a 52 cents discount to Singapore quotes on a c-and-f Indian west coast basis. The volume of diesel awarded is sharply lower than IOC's 855,000 tonne award for July delivery and well under the market's expectation of about 400,000 tonnes late on Friday, traders said.

IOC's decision to cancel the term tender was due to the higher than expected offers.