MOSCOW (MRC) -- India’s state-run Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) has made its first purchase of US-produced Thunder Horse crude oil via a tender for mid-October delivery, reported Reuters with reference to its managing director M. Venkatesh.
"The price offered was very competitive, Venkatesh said. The state-run refiner placed an order to buy 1 million barrels of the sour oil, he said.
The deal comes as Indian refiners ramp up purchases of US oil to compensate for the loss of Iranian oil supplies as Washington tightens sanctions on Tehran. The widening spread between Brent and West Texas Crude WTCLc1-LCOc1 prices is also providing a boost to Asian refiners looking to buy US oil.
MRPL, which used to be Iran’s second-biggest Indian oil client, operates a 300,000 barrels per day coastal refinery in the southern Karnataka state. Venkatesh told Reuters the Thunder Horse deal is the firm’s second purchase of U.S. oil following a shipment of high-sulphur Southern Green Canyon oil received in February 2018.
An industry source said MRPL has placed its order with BP late on Thursday evening. The person declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.
BP could not immediately be contacted for comment.
Meanwhile MRPL’s Venkatesh said all units are now operating normally at the Karnataka refinery, where crude processing was curtailed due to water shortages in early May.
"The refinery is operating at almost peak capacity," he said.
As MRC wrote before, MRPL, has brought on-stream its polypropylene (PP) plant in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. he company has recently resumed operations at the plant following a turnaround. The plant was shut for maintenance in mid-April, 2019. Located in Mangalore, in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, the plant has a PP production capacity of 440,000 mt/year.
Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL), is an oil refinery at Mangalore and is a subsidiary of ONGC, set up in 1993. The refinery is located at Katipalla, north from centre of Mangalore city. The refinery was established after displacing five villages of Bala, Kalavar, Kuthetoor, Katipalla, and Adyapadi.
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