BD offers to sell 170,000bbls naphtha

DHAKA: State-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) has offered to sell 170,000 barrels of open-specification naphtha for Aug. 23-25 lifting in a tender, a company official said on Wednesday.

The tender will close on July 28 with validity up to Aug. 3 for loading on a free-on-board (FOB) basis from Chittagong.

The offer comes at a time when Asia's naphtha market is still struggling with high stockpiles.

BPC, owner of the country's sole refinery, previously sold a similar cargo to Glencore at a discount of $2.78 a barrel to Singapore spot quotes for lifting over June 28-30.

Eastern Refinery in Chittagong exports nearly 1 million barrels of naphtha a year.

However, Bangladesh will stop exports of naphtha from the end of this year as petrochemical companies come online, BPC Chairman Mohammad Muqtadir Ali told Reuters last month. COPYRIGHT REUTERS, 2011