Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has bought one very large crude carrier of Nigerian Bonny Light crude for October-loading from European trader Vitol at an undisclosed price.
Traders said IOC bought about 7 million barrels of October-loading sweet crude so far, including the Bonny Light cargo from Vitol, which is slightly lower than its usual monthly requirements of 8-10 million barrels.
They said IOC had issued a tender to buy October-November loading sweet crude, which would close on September 1 for grade offers and price offers due on September 2. Offers are to remain valid until September 3.
Indonesian state oil firm Pertamina has issued its regular monthly purchase tender for November-arrival sweets.
Traders expected the wide Brent/Dubai exchange spread would prompt Pertamina to buy only regional crudes again.
The state oil firm did not buy West African crude in its last two imports tenders for September and October arrival.
The Brent/Dubai Exchange For Swaps (EFS) was around $4.01/$4.08 for October, compared with around $4.06 on Friday.
China, usually the largest buyer of West African crude in Asia, has started to buy October-loading cargoes, as one Chinese oil company was heard to have bought 1 million barrels of Angola's Cabinda crude from an unknown seller at around dated Brent minus $2.30 a barrel.
The price of the October-loading Cabinda cargo was slightly higher than a previous traded level for an end-September loading cargo, which was done at $2.50 a barrel discount to dated Brent.
In the Middle East sour crude market, the market heard a South Korean refiner has bought 600,000 to 1.2 million barrels of Qatar's Al Shaheen crude from an unknown seller at lower than a $2.00 a barrel discount to spot Dubai quotes.