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India's Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd. (BPCL) has issued a tender for the prompt sale of 30,000 tonnes of fuel oil scheduled for loading end-December, Reuters reports.

The 380-centistoke (cst) cargo is due to be lifted from Kochi on December 22-24 on a free on board (FOB) basis. The tender closes on Thursday 17th December and will remain valid until later the same day.

Bharat Petroleum is a rare spot seller of fuel oil cargoes as it normally supplies the majority of its term cargoes to its joint venture partner Matrix Bharat Marine Services, which sells marine fuel at the world's leading bunker port, Singapore.

The oil firm offered its first spot cargo of fuel oil in about a year in early October when it sold a parcel of 380-cst to Japanese trading house Marubeni. The 30,000-tonne parcel was loaded on October 12-18 from Mumbai. Marubeni was reported to have paid around $4-5 per tonne below Singapore spot quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis.

Bharat had previously sold a 380-cst spot cargo in October 2008 when BP purchased 40,000 tonnes of the product for mid-October lifting.

Since the sale to Marubeni in October 2009, Bharat has also recently sold two similar-sized lots for loading from Mumbai on December 15-21 and from Kochi on December 27-31. The parcels were understood to have been purchased by UAE-based fuel oil trader FAL Oil and oil major Shell at discounts of $11.00-$15.00 a tonne to Singapore spot quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis.

Bharat's latest cargo sale is thought to be so prompt because local fuel oil demand does not tend to be as high towards the end of the year as during the peak demand season.

The fuel oil market has weakened recently due to heavy supplies from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, whilst inflows from the West have also been high at over 3.5 million tonnes per month between October and December.

As a result of current buying sentiment, Bharat's current tender is expected to sell at similar or lower levels than its previous December deals.