New Delhi, Jan 11 (PTI) Indian Oil Corp (IOC) todaybought its third shipload or cargo of US crude oil as it looksat cheaper alternatives that have emerged due to the globalsupply glut.
IOC bought 2 million barrels of light Louisiana sweetcrude oil in a tender today, official sources said.
The oil is for delivery at its Paradip refinery in Odishaduring April 11-20.
IOC's Paradip refinery had in October last year receivedIndia's first ever shipment of US crude oil when it imported a1.6 million barrels parcel.
Prior to today's buying, IOC had placed a cumulativeorder of 3.9 million barrel of US crude.
Sources said IOC had previously imported blend of twogrades of crude oil but in today's tender it has bought theentire 2 million barrels of single grade crude oil.
State-owned Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) andHindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) had also placed orders forabout 2.95 million barrels and 1 million barrels of US cruderespectively for their Kochi and Visakhapatnam refineries.
The October cargo was the first shipments to India sincethe US stopped oil exports in 1975.
IOC's first purchase of US crude comprised 1.6 millionbarrels of high sulphur crude Mars and 400,000 barrels ofWestern Canadian Select oil. In the second, it bought 1.9million barrels of US crude, half of it being shale oil.
The second shipment was for the west coast.
India, the world's third-largest oil importer, joinsAsian countries like South Korea, Japan and China to buy UScrude after production cuts by oil cartel OPEC drove up pricesof Middle East heavy-sour crude, or grades with a high sulphurcontent.
Buying US crude has become attractive for Indian refinersafter the differential between Brent (the benchmark crude ormarker crude that serves as a reference price for buyers inthe western world) and Dubai (which serves as a benchmark forcountries in the east) has narrowed.
Even after including the shipping cost, buying US crudeis cost competitive for Indian refiners, sources said.
India started buying US crude within weeks of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi's June 2017 visit to the US whenPresident Donald Trump talked of his country looking to exportmore energy products to India.
To encourage US crude purchases, the government hasallowed refiners to use a foreign rather than an Indian-ownedvessel for the purchase. Indian refiners typically have to usedomestic vessels for their crude imports.
Sources said IOC has bought the third cargo on DES orDelivered Ex Ship basis. PTI ANZABM.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.