IOC buys 3 million barrels of W African crude oil
New Delhi   22-Apr-2014

IndianOil has bought three million barrels of West African crude oil via a tender for June lifting, including a rare purchase of Nigeria's Okwuibome grade, three trade sources said.

The country's biggest refiner purchased a million barrels of Okwuibome oil from trader Glencore as a trial cargo for processing at some of its own plants, the sources said.

Earlier, IOC bought a similar size parcel for December lifting for processing at plants owned by its subsidiary Chennai Petroleum.

IOC also bought a very large crude carrier containing about a million barrels each of Nigeria's Zafiro and Qua Iboe grades, two of the sources said. Vitol sold both the crudes, they said. Price details were not known. An IOC spokesman declined to comment on the tender purchases.

IOC, along with subsidiary Chennai Petroleum, controls about 31% of India's oil refining capacity of 4.3 million bpd.