HPCL purchased Nigeria’s Okwuibome and Utapate crude grades from trader Glencore for HPCL Rajasthan Refinery Ltd, the sources said.
The oil is expected to arrive in late September. HPCL holds a 74% stake in the refinery, known as HRRL, with the Rajasthan state government owning the remaining 26%.
HPCL and Glencore did not comment on the trade. Companies involved in such tenders typically decline to discuss individual transactions, a standard practice in crude oil trading where pricing and volume details are considered commercially sensitive.
A refinery still ramping up its crude sourcing
Moreover, the purchase adds to a mix of crude grades HRRL has processed since crude first began reaching the refinery late last year.
Market sources have said early shipments to the facility included crude from multiple origins beyond West Africa, including Azerbaijan’s Azeri grade, Libya’s Mesla grade and Angola’s Nemba grade, alongside Nigerian barrels, reflecting the refinery’s flexibility in sourcing crude as it ramps up operations.
The 9 million tonne per year refinery-cum-petrochemical complex, developed at a cost of roughly ₹73,000 crore ($8.7 billion), began crude distillation operations in January this year.
It is designed to process a combination of imported crude and domestically sourced Rajasthan crude, positioning HPCL as India’s second-largest state-owned refiner by capacity.
Nigeria’s Okwuibome grade has a history in Indian refining
Nigeria’s Okwuibome crude, a low-sulfur grade popular with refineries in North America and Western Europe, has featured in Indian crude purchases for more than a decade.
State-run Indian Oil Corp bought a trial cargo of the grade from Glencore in 2014, following an earlier delivery in 2013 that marked the first instance of an Indian state-run refiner sourcing crude directly from Nigerian fields.
Indian refiners have increasingly diversified their crude sourcing away from traditional Middle Eastern suppliers in recent years, adding West African grades to their import mix as part of broader efforts to secure supply amid shifting global oil trade patterns and periodic sanctions-driven disruptions to traditional import routes.
Moreover, the purchase adds to a mix of crude grades HRRL has processed since crude first began reaching the refinery late last year.
Market sources have said early shipments to the facility included crude from multiple origins beyond West Africa, including Azerbaijan’s Azeri grade, Libya’s Mesla grade and Angola’s Nemba grade, alongside Nigerian barrels, reflecting the refinery’s flexibility in sourcing crude as it ramps up operations.
The 9 million tonne per year refinery-cum-petrochemical complex, developed at a cost of roughly ₹73,000 crore ($8.7 billion), began crude distillation operations in January this year.
It is designed to process a combination of imported crude and domestically sourced Rajasthan crude, positioning HPCL as India’s second-largest state-owned refiner by capacity.
Nigeria’s Okwuibome grade has a history in Indian refining
Nigeria’s Okwuibome crude, a low-sulfur grade popular with refineries in North America and Western Europe, has featured in Indian crude purchases for more than a decade.
State-run Indian Oil Corp bought a trial cargo of the grade from Glencore in 2014, following an earlier delivery in 2013 that marked the first instance of an Indian state-run refiner sourcing crude directly from Nigerian fields.
Indian refiners have increasingly diversified their crude sourcing away from traditional Middle Eastern suppliers in recent years, adding West African grades to their import mix as part of broader efforts to secure supply amid shifting global oil trade patterns and periodic sanctions-driven disruptions to traditional import routes.
By Cyrus Ademola, Businessfront
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