SINGAPORE, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Saudi Aramco Products Trading
Co, the top oil exporter's new trading arm, is seeking
unspecified volumes of gasoil for its term contract for March to
October delivery next year, industry sources said on Wednesday.
The company, which is a subsidiary of state-run Saudi
Aramco, is seeking 500 parts-per-million (ppm) sulphur gasoil to
be delivered in cargo sizes of either 300,000 barrels or 500,000
barrels or both, they said.
The cargoes are to be delivered into Jeddah, Jizan or Ras
Tanura and will be priced off the new Middle East benchmark
quotes of 500 ppm sulphur gasoil instead of the current 0.5
percent, or 5000 ppm, sulphur gasoil quotes.
Offers are to be submitted to the company by Dec. 7 and will
be valid until Dec. 21. A second round of negotiations will be
held in London over Dec. 17-19.
For the 2012 term, Saudi Aramco paid premiums of $5.95 a
barrel for 500 ppm sulphur gasoil to be delivered into Jizan,
$5.35 a barrel for delivery into Jeddah and $4.20 a barrel for
optional cargoes to be delivered into Ras Tanurah.
While Saudi Aramco is usually a net exporter of gasoil and
jet fuel from its refineries in the Persian Gulf, the company
imports gasoil into the Red Sea region. It avoids sending
cargoes from the Persian Gulf to Red Sea after one of its ships
was hijacked by pirates in 2008, traders said.
Aramco Trading, which started commercial operations in
January this year, is based at the state company's Dhahran
headquarters.
(Reporting by Jessica Jaganathan; Editing by Himani Sarkar)