SINGAPORE: Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, is offering up to 400,000 tonnes of low-density, high sulphur fuel oil in June from its joint venture refinery with Royal Dutch Shell at Jubail, traders said on Tuesday.
The rare sell tender for 180-centistoke (cst), the second issued in as many months, was likely a result of a shutdown of its desulphurisation unit at its 305,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery in Jubail, traders said.
The unit at The Saudi Aramco Shell Refinery Company (SASREF) in Jubail, which was shut earlier this month, was expected to remain shut until the end of April when the issues are expected to be resolved, sources said earlier.
SASREF will also bring a second desulphurisation unit offline in early May for at least two weeks.
The refinery sold 400,000 tonnes of 180-cst to Shell International Trading Middle East (SITME) for May loading at a premium of $9 to $11 a tonne to the Singapore benchmark. (Reuters)
