Indian fuel retailer Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd expects a net gain of $20 to $30 a metric ton on delivery of U.S. liquefied petroleum gas through swap deal with Middle Eastern suppliers, its head of finance said on Friday.
BPCL, India’s second-biggest state refiner, is in talks with suppliers to swap contracted Middle Eastern cargo with U.S. supplies, Vetsa Ramakrishna Gupta told analysts.
A U.S.-China tariff war has widened the price gap between Middle Eastern and U.S. LPG and upended trade routes.
China has imposed duties on goods from the U.S. in response to tariffs imposed by the U.S. on imports from China.
“We are approaching suppliers. We see little bit of opportunity in terms of U.S. LPG. We are expecting a net benefit of $20 to $30 per ton,” Gupta said.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Co is also replacing some of the LPG it supplies India with cheaper U.S. cargo from June, Reuters reported.
Cheaper U.S. LPG will help BPCL offset some of the 6.5 billion to 7 billion rupees ($77 million to $83 million) monthly revenue loss it suffers on the local sale of the cooking fuel at below market rates.
Gupta said he hopes the federal government will introduce a quarterly compensate scheme for refiners that incur a revenue loss on LPG sales.
India sources more than 80 per cent of its LPG from the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait, under annual contracts.
Gupta also said BPCL sees the share of Russian oil in crude processing at its three refineries rising to about 30 per cent to 32 per cent from 24 per cent in January-March when U.S. sanctions disrupted supplies. He said BPCL is buying Russian crude at a discount of about $3 a barrel to Dubai benchmark.
BPCL is looking to build a refinery of either 180,000 barrels per day or 240,000 bpd in southern Andhra Pradesh state within four years of a final investment decision, which Gupta said he expects by the end of 2025.
