India issues new tender for Sudan Nile blend crude
December 7, 2008 (SINGAPORE) – India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has offered a second cargo of Sudanese Nile Blend crude for January according to tender documents reviewed by Reuters.
This is the first time in over a year that ONCG offered two cargoes for a given month.
The tender is also for 600,000 barrels similar to the first one sold to European trader Arcadia at a discount of between $5 and $6 a barrel to Dated Brent, well below the $2 discount fetched for a November cargo that ONGC awarded to Chinaoil.
The Indian firm which holds a 25 percent stake in the Greater Nile project, has briefly stopped issuing monthly tenders to sell Nile Blend, as output has fallen and it is keeping some of its equity for its subsidiary Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL).
Output at the Greater Nile project, where Nile Blend is produced, has fallen below 250,000 bpd, well off the field’s 325,000 bpd peak, leading to lower sales for ONGC, which holds a 25 percent stake in the project.
Demand for Nile Blend has fallen amid weakening oil demand.
A global financial crisis has led investors to believe that oil demand will be severely curtailed in developed nations and possibly China and India. Crude oil is down more than 70 percent from its all-time peak of $147.27 reached July 11.
(ST)