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Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd.(CPCL), a unit of India’s biggest refiner, is reportedly looking to substantially increase its bunker sales volumes at Chennai over the next 12 months, according to industry sources.

News of the company's plans follows CPCL's recent launch of 380-centistoke (cst) at the strategically-located southeastern port.

CPCL is said to be planning to supply the new grade of bunker fuel to its parent company Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) for direct sales to vessels calling at the port.

According to market estimates, CPCL's bunker sales at Chennai are currently at around 5,000 tonnes per month, and the company is reported to have the capacity raise the amount according to market demand. IOC is said to be looking to increase sales by 100 percent within a year to 10,000 tonnes.

News of CPCL's and IOC's future plans at Chennai follows the announcement earlier this month by leading marine fuels supplier Chemoil that it intends to begin supplying at Chennai by the end of the year.

Speaking at the Reuters Energy Summit, Sanjay Anand, Managing Director of Asia and Middle East operations, said "We are discussing with various parties about our expansion into Chennai, and we expect to start supplying 10,000 tons of bunker fuel by the end of the year."

Chemoil launched its joint venture supply service at Mundra with local firm Adani Enterprises Limited at the start of this year. Monthly sales volumes at Mundra reached 50,000 metric tonnes in both March and April 2009 and the company expects sales to double to around 100,000 tonnes per month by the end of this year, Anand said.

In May, CPCL announced that its profit fell by 21 percent during the fourth quarter after earning less from turning crude into fuels.

Net income in the three months ended March 31 dropped to 2.72 billion rupees ($57 million) from 3.43 billion rupees a year earlier. Net sales declined by 43 percent to 48.1 billion rupees.

Chennai Petroleum said it earned $6.6 on every barrel of crude turned into fuels, compared with $9.59 a barrel a year earlier.