Unipec, Vitol poised to win tender to supply fuels to Bangladesh

DHAKA/SINGAPORE, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Bangladesh Petroleum Corp (BPC) has received offers from a mix of traders and state oil companies in its tender for over 1.4 million tonnes of oil products for the first half of 2019, with Unipec and Vitol giving the best quotations.

"Unipec is supposed to win the tender for both gasoil and jet fuel as they came up with the lowest offers. And Vitol is likely to secure the tender for fuel oil and gasoline as their offers are (the) lowest," said a senior official of BPC.

The deals with Unipec and Vitol will be finalised within a short time after verifying all other details, the official said.

China's Unipec - trading arm of Chinese state major Sinopec - gave the lowest offer for gasoil and jet fuel at premiums to Middle East quotes of slightly below $2.90 and $3.70 a barrel respectively, according to the official.

The Asian unit of trading house Vitol submitted gasoil and jet fuel offers that were slightly higher.

Vitol Asia gave the lowest offers, however, at premiums to Middle East quotes for gasoline slightly under $4.25 a barrel and fuel oil at about $22.30 a tonne, the BPC official said.

Other sellers who participated in BPC's import tender include PetroChina, Sinochem, Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC), Trafigura, PTT and Gunvor.

Bangladesh typically imports about 3.2 million tonnes of diesel and 2.5 million tonnes of fuel oil annually, making it one of the top 10 importers for those fuels in Asia. (Reporting by Ruma Paul in DHAKA and Seng Li Peng in SINGAPORE; Editing by Tom Hogue)