India offers Sept Nile Blend

July 21, 2008 (SINGAPORE) — India’s state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has issued a tender to sell 600,000 barrels of Nile Blend crude for September, against earlier expectations that it would keep the cargo for its subsidiary, tender documents showed on Monday.

The cargo is for loading on Sept. 11-25. The tender closes on July 23, with offers to remain valid until July 24.

A company source at its subsidiary, the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) had said earlier this month that that refinery would run ONGC’s equity share in September and October.

The company used to regularly sell 600,0000 barrels a month of the Sudanese heavy sweet crude, but has skipped several tenders this year.

ONGC holds a 25 percent stake in the Greater Nile project, where Nile Blend’s output has fallen below 250,000 barrels per day (bpd).

(Reuters)