LUKoil has bought its first ever Saudi fuel oil cargo, traders said Thursday.
LUKoil is starting fuel oil trading in the Middle East, and the Saudi purchase comes less than a week after it won a tender to supply a 65,000-ton high-sulfur fuel oil cargo to Pakistan State Oil.
Pakistani demand, mostly for 180-centistoke utility fuel, is largely supplied from the Middle East, while the Saudi cargo is bunkers grade 380 cSt.
The Russian major's trading arm, Geneva-based Litasco, bought up to 90,000 tons of 380 cSt, for May 29 to 31, lifting from Saudi Arabia's Jubail at a discount of $13 to $14 a ton to Singapore spot quotes on a free-on-board basis.
Meanwhile, Litasco booked the Vega Star supertanker to sail to Singapore from Rotterdam next month, according to reports from five shipbrokers.
The ship, which can carry 2 million barrels of oil, was chartered for June 8 at a cost of $3.85 million, according to reports Wednesday including from Athens-based Optima Shipbrokers. One of the brokers said the tanker was carrying fuel oil.
(Reuters, Bloomberg)
