Petroperu Tenders to Buy ULSD Cargoes

State-run Petroperu launched a tender to buy six 290,000-324,800 barrel cargoes of ultra low-sulfur diesel (ULSD), to be received from May to June at its Conchan, Mollendo and Callao ports in Peru, according to an invitation seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

Previously this month, Petroperu offered to buy one 220,000 barrel cargo combining cracked naphtha and high octane gasoline blend stock (HOGBS) and two 100,000 barrel cargoes of biodiesel for delivery from May to June.

According to this tender documents, the first ULSD cargo should arrive to Peru on May 4-8. The company added that it will receive bids until April 10 and they must be indexed to ULSD prices from the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The ULSD cargoes, with maximum 15 parts per million sulfur, must be exclusively for Petroperu. Winner cannot load in the same vessels any additional volume for other clients.

Peru has ramped up purchases of finished fuels from the United States for its domestic market since 2009, when it bought 16,000 barrels per day (bpd), according to the Energy Information Administration. In 2013 it imported 63,000 bpd.

(Reporting by Marianna Parraga)