Mumbai, Sept 17: Bharat Petroleum will process Seria light crude from Brunei in October and may negotiate a term contract next year if it finds the crude suitable, a trade official said on Wednesday. "BPCL is taking one cargo of 500,000 barrels to be loaded in September. Next year there could talks of a term contract with Brunei Shell," the official, who did not want to be named, said.
In July, state-run Indian Oil Corp signed its first ever term contract with Brunei to import 500,000 tonnes of crude oil.
BPCL plans to import 9.7 million tonnes or around 194,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil in the year to March 2004.
It imports crude for its refinery in Bombay, which processed 174,000 bpd last year, and its subsidiary Kochi Refineries in southern India, which refined 151,000 bpd.
It will import seven million tonnes in term deals and 2.7 million tonnes from the spot market.
Bureau Report