RI buys diesel cargo for Oct.

State oil company Pertamina has awarded the first gas oil cargo in its October buy tender, but was still looking for at least three to four more cargoes, traders said yesterday.

A 600,000-barrel cargo was purchased at a premium of about 90 cents a barrel to Singapore spot quotes on a cost-and-freight basis, traders said.

The level was marginally softer than the US$0.90-US$1 premiums that Pertamina paid for September barrels.

Traders said Pertamina may also have bought a second cargo for October, but this could not be confirmed.

For September, traders estimated that Pertamina bought five to six million barrels of diesel. October imports may come in slightly lower because of Pertamina's plan to process crude at Singapore refineries, they said.

Pertamina has also lowered the allocation volumes of Minas crude to its term buyers and affiliates for October lifting to 26,400 barrels-per-day (bpd).

This compares to September Minas allocation volumes of 28,000 bpd.

The bulk of the cutback was made to Japan/Indonesia joint venture Pacific Petroleum Trading (PPT), which received 16,900 bpd Minas versus 20,000 bpd in September.

Traders said Japan trading houses Itochu Corp and Mitsubishi Corp received allocations of 7,500 bpd and 2,000 bpd October Minas, respectively. (*)