India's BPCL buys first cargo of US WTI Midland oil
NEW DELHI (Reuters) — State-run Bharat Petroleum Corp has bought 1 MMbbl of low-sulfur WTI Midland grade, the first purchase of the US grade by an Indian company, through a tender, an industry source with knowledge of the deal said.
The refiner is seeking delivery of the oil in October, the source added, without elaborating.
The cargo was sold to BPCL by the Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) at a price linked to Brent, a second person said, adding that its pricing was competitive against West African oil.
"If this crude suits BPCL's system then it could buy more US sweet oil," he said.
A spokesman for BPCL could not comment immediately, while ENOC didn't answer a call seeking comment.
Refiners in India, the world's third-biggest oil consumer, are diversifying crude imports as cheaper alternatives have emerged due to a global supply glut despite OPEC and some non-OPEC producers cutting output to try to jack up prices.
India is the latest Asian country to buy US crude, following South Korea, Japan, China, Thailand, Australia and Taiwan, after the OPEC cuts drove up prices of Middle East heavy-sour crude, or grades with a high sulfur content.
BPCL last month made its first purchase of US oil, buying high sulfur crudes Mars and Poseidon.
Indian refiners stepped up purchase of the US oil after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the Washington in June when President Donald Trump said the United States looked forward to exporting more energy products to the world's third-biggest oil buyer.
It is part of Trump's policy to assert power globally by boosting natural gas, coal and petroleum exports. He said last week the "golden era" of the US energy business was now under way.
Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan and Nidhi Verma in NEW DELHI; Additional reporting by Florence Tan in SINGAPORE; Editing by Adrian Croft and Kenneth Maxwell
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