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Hindustan Petroleum Corp plans crude import deal with Azerbaijan

10 May 2012 09:59 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Victoria Dementyeva - APA-Economics. State-run Hindustan Petroleum Corp aims to sign its first-ever annual import deal to buy 10,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil from Azerbaijan’s national oil company SOCAR, a source with knowledge of the deal said on Wednesday, APA reports quoting Reuters.

"Discussions are on with them (SOCAR). We have not finalised the deal size yet. Their rates are competitive," K. Murali told Reuters, adding it would be part of the company’s efforts to diversify its crude sources.

The source said the deal could be for about 10,000 bpd.

HPCL will be the second Indian refiner this year to aim for a deal with SOCAR, whose Azeri Light crude suits most Indian plants.

Indian Oil Corp, the country’s biggest oil importer, began buying 20,000 bpd oil from SOCAR earlier this year under an annual deal for its subsidiary Chennai Petroleum Corp, according to two industry sources.

HPCL operates a 166,000 bpd refinery at Vizag in southern India and a 130,000 bpd plant in Mumbai, in western India.

It also has a stake in 180,000 Bathinda refinery in northern Punjab state.