Pertamina buys Mideast crudes to replace Iraqi loadings

Two cargoes totaling 3.6 million barrels of Basrah light were scheduled to be loaded from the Iraqi terminal Mina Al Bakr April 9 and April 20, the official said.

The official declined to elaborate on the exact volume and types of crudes bought.

Iraq announced April 8 that it would halt its daily oil exports of 1.5 million barrels to protest Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories, disrupting Indonesia's crude loading program.

Pertamina has since covered at least 1.8 million bbl of either Murban, Oman or Qatar crude grades for April loading, the Petral official was quoted as saying by Dow Jones Newswires.

The delivery of the prompt purchase is expected, at the latest May 7 at Cilacap, he added. Petral had arranged for the April Iraqi crude cargoes to be shipped to the 120,000-barrel-a-day Cilacap refinery.

Cilacap refinery is currently running at a lower capacity with Basrah Light crude cargoes that were loaded in March and arrived in Indonesia April 10, the Petral official said.

"Pertamina had delayed its Saudi Arabian light term crude loadings as it was planning to test Basrah crude for two months at Cilacap refinery," he added.

But Pertamina will now resume term imports of Arabian Light crude for use in second-half May, with a shipment scheduled for arrival at Cilacap refinery mid-May, he added.

The Iraqi crude export ban has created additional Indonesian demand for refined products in April. Over the past week, Pertamina concluded deals for 600,000 bbl of gasoil, 600,000 bbl of kerosene, 200,000 bbl of 88 RON gasoline for delivery late April, sources said.

It remained unclear if Pertamina will be sourcing for additional May petroleum products at this point, sources said. (*)