Indonesia buys fuel oil for October
Wednesday, September 27 2000 - 02:00 AM WIB
Indonesia's state-owned Pertamina has bought by tender one million barrels of fuel oil for October delivery, traders said on Monday.
They said the cargoes were purchased at premiums of about $5.50 per tonne above prevailing Singapore spot quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis, up sharply from the $1.00 it paid for September cargoes.
Traders said the high price was due to the steep costs of blendstock, which have risen in tandem with sharp hikes on gas oil over the past few weeks.
Pertamina sought 140-centistoke (cst) fuel oil in its tender compared with the commercially traded 180-cst, which requires traders to blend up the fuel oil in order to meet the lower viscosity.
Traders said the cargoes, bought in 200,000-barrel lots on a free-on-board Singapore/Malaysia basis, were all purchased from Malaysian state-oil trader Petco Trading, but this could not be confirmed.
Petco officials could not be reached for comment.
In its last tender, Pertamina bought 1.6 million barrels of fuel oil for delivery in September. (*)