Hindustan Petroleum Corp News

Indian Oil Corp has bought 7 million barrels of crude from the United States, Canada and the Middle East, four trade sources said on Monday, as U.S. President Donald Trump ramped up his criticism of the country over its purchases of Russian oil.India is the biggest buyer of seaborne crude from Russia, which is under Western-led sanctions over its war in Ukraine.Its main refiners paused buying Russian oil last week as discounts to other suppliers narrowed after Trump threatened hefty tariffs on imports from countries that make any such purchases, Reuters reported last week.

The owners of three vessels chartered by India's Nayara Energy have asked to end their contracts with company, six sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday, under pressure from EU sanctions imposed on the Russian-owned refiner.Nayara, majority-owned by Russian entities including oil major Rosneft, runs India's third-biggest refinery and exports refined products and also supplies them domestically.Fresh European Union sanctions unveiled on July 18 that target Russia and its energy sector over Moscow's war in Ukraine, have been increasingly disruptive to Nayara.

Indian refiners have resumed Venezuelan oil purchases through intermediaries, with Reliance RELI.NS set to meet executives from state firm PDVSA next week to discuss direct sales following the easing of U.S. sanctions on the South American country, people familiar with the matter said.Trade resumed between the OPEC producer and the second largest destination for its oil after Washington in October temporarily lifted sanctions banning Venezuelan oil exports, prompting a flurry of spot sales of crude and fuel through middlemen and traders…

India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) is struggling to find a vessel to ship 700,000 barrels of crude from Russia's Far East, in a growing sign that complex trades involving one of Moscow's biggest partners are being interrupted by Western sanctions, sources say.Several Indian companies including ONGC have stakes in Russian oil and gas assets, and India has been buying more Russian crude since Moscow invaded Ukraine, snapping up the popular Urals crude grade, while other buyers…

Pirates have kidnapped 19 crew members from a crude oil tanker off Nigeria in an area where acts of piracy are on the rise, an official with the ship's operator said on Thursday.The loaded vessel, the Nave Constellation, was attacked 77 nautical miles off Bonny Island on Tuesday and 18 Indians and one Turk from the crew were seized, the official said.Seven other crew members remain on board the vessel. Neither the vessel nor the cargo were damaged, the official said.The shipping…

High-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO), essentially the leftovers of an oil refiner's output, will still flow from refineries around the world even after new rules start up in 2020 curtailing its use in the global shipping fleet, a Reuters survey showed.Sixty percent of the 33 refineries contacted by Reuters in a global survey will still produce HSFO in 2020 although the supply will tighten as 70 percent of these refiners plan to reduce their output.Starting that year, ships will have to use marine fuel…

India is set to emerge as a key market for American crude exports in coming months, as refineries in that country are ramping up "test" purchases of U.S. grades to diversify their imports. U.S. exports recently set a weekly record with nearly 2 million barrels of crude a day sent overseas. But shipments to India have been rare, with just a few deliveries since the U.S. lifted its ban on crude exports in late 2015. Indian refineries are starting to increase purchases as the country seeks to secure more supply from outside the Middle East. Refiners are testing both U.S.

Indian Oil Corp, the country's largest refiner, has bought two new types of U.S. crude for December delivery as it tests different grades from the United States, trade sources said on Tuesday. IOC bought 1 million barrels each of U.S. Southern Green Canyon (SGC) and WTI Midland crude likely from a Chinese trader, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The purchase was in addition to 2 million barrels of Basra Light crude to be delivered in the same month. The United States has become a new source of crude supply for Asia since Washington lifted a ban on crude exports in late 2015. India joined other Asian countries in buying U.S. crude in the fourth quarter to widen its import sources as well as to reduce trade surplus with the United States.

India's biggest shipping company Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) will resume sailing to Iran this month after a hiatus of about four years, reports Reuters. The company says it will accordingly use one of its Suezmax-sized tankers to ship an oil cargo for state-refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) from Iran. "It is not yet decided ... which SCI-owned vessel is going to Iran," said SCI Chairman B.B. Sinha. SCI stopped sailing to Iran in 2012 when sanctions targeting Iran's nuclear programme prevented the company obtaining insurance cover for oil and other shipments. SCI had contracts with HPCL, Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd to ship crude from Iran, he said.

India's Iran oil imports rose about 39 percent in June year on year, preliminary data obtained by Reuters shows. In the first half of 2016 India's Iran oil imports surged by about 58 percent to about 342,000 bpd, the data showed, in comparison with 216,500 bpd in the same period last year. HPCL-Mittal Energy, majority owned by state refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corp, halted oil imports from Iran in November 2012 under pressure from Western sanctions over Iran's nuclear ambitions. HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd (HMEL), partly owned by steel tycoon Lakshmi N. Mittal, took a cargo from Tehran after a three-and-a-half year break. Last month HMEL took a million barrels of Iranian oil…

Cairn India Ltd has invited initial bids for exports of its oil from the desert state of Rajasthan, according to a copy of the tender notice seen by Reuters, despite a government ban on overseas sales of locally-produced crude. A government official said there had been no change in the ban and that Cairn India might simply be trying to establish a price for its oil via the tender process ahead of negotiations to sell it to local buyers. Cairn India, backed by billionaire Anil Agarwal, did not respond to telephone calls and an email seeking comment about the export notice. India is the world's fourth-biggest oil consumer and imports about 80 percent of its oil needs, leading it to place restrictions on the export of locally-produced oil.

Oil imports from Iran at 220,000 bpd in year to March 31. U.S. pressured India not to raise annual Iran oil imports. India halted oil imports from Iran for the first time in at least a decade in March as New Delhi responded to U.S. pressure to keep its shipments from Tehran within sanction limits during the last month of negotiations on a preliminary nuclear deal. Iran and six world powers have ramped up the pace of negotiations this week ahead of the Tuesday deadline for reaching an initial accord on a final nuclear agreement. Both sides have warned it was crucial to overcome differences that could still wreck any chance at a deal.

India's Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) aims to increase its Mumbai refinery's capacity to 200,000 barrels per day from 130,000 bpd, the company said in a statement on Wednesday. The state-run company also aims to increase the Vizag refinery's capacity to 300,000 bpd from 166,000 bpd. HPCL will spend 170 billion rupees ($2.88 billion) for expanding the refineries, said B.K. Namdeo, HPCL's head of refineries. "After getting the environment approval, we hope to complete Vizag expansion in three years and the Mumbai plan in two to two-and-a-half years," Namdeo said. He said he hopes HPCL should be able to get the environment approval by the end of this year. ($1 = 59.0250 Indian Rupees) (Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

The cash premium of the benchmark 380-cst fuel oil grade firmed for the fourth straight session on Wednesday, underpinned by lower supply in the region in early April. The 380-cst cash premium rose 76 percent or close to $1 a tonne to a two-week high of $2.22 a tonne, Reuters data showed. this period has provided some support for the 380-cst market. Around 4.17 million tonnes of fuel oil will arrive in April from the West, of which only an estimated 950,000 tonnes or just 20 percent of the total, will make a landfall in the first 10 days of the month, Reuters reported earlier. On the other hand, demand from southeast Asia is also set to increase…