HPCL makes its first U.S. oil purchase: chairman

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian state refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corp has made its first purchase of U.S. oil, buying high sulphur crude Mars in a tender, company chairman M. K. Surana said on Monday.

Earlier Indian Oil Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp, both state refiners, had purchased the U.S. oil through tenders.

HPCL has bought 1 million barrels of Mars oil from trader Trafigura for delivery in December at the southern Indian port of Vizag, he said.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma)