Vitol wins tender to supply IOC with W. African oil

Oil trader Vitol has won a tender to supply Indian Oil Corporation with at least three million barrels of West African crude oil, trade sources said. The Swiss trader will supply one cargo each of Nigeria’s Qua Iboe and EA grades and a third cargo of Zafiro from Equatorial Guinea in January, the sources said. One of the sources said that Vitol would also supply a second Qua Iboe cargo. Vitol has resumed sales to IOC in the past few months after being barred from participating in a tender late last year. It was not clear exactly why the ban was lifted, although traders active in the tender process said that companies deemed to be in violation of IOC rules were typically sanctioned for a one-year period and that this had now expired. In December, Vitol won the right to supply 2 million barrels of West African oil for the December-loading IOC tender.