BPCL seeks diesel cargoes as refinery maintenance extended - sources

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) is seeking diesel cargoes in a rare move as a planned maintenance shutdown at its Mumbai refinery takes longer than expected to complete, trading and refining sources said.

BPCL is seeking two 50 parts per million (ppm) sulphur diesel cargoes of 40,000 tonnes each for delivery into Mumbai over May 10-12 and May 16-18, according to documents for a tender that closes on April 25, oil traders said.

The firm shut a 120,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) crude distillation unit, a hydrocracker and some secondary units at its 240,000 bpd Mumbai refinery from early March. The unit was initially expected to be back on line earlier this month, but will now only be on stream next week, a company official told Reuters.

"We have some domestic shortages due to the delay," he added.

BPCL didn't answer calls from Reuters seeking comment on the tender.

(Reporting by Jessica Jaganathan; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)

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