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Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL), a rare gasoline importer, is seeking a total of 25,000 tonnes of gasoline for April as it prepares to shut a crude unit and gasoline-making unit for maintenance, traders said on Thursday. The state-owned refiner is seeking 10,000 tonnes of gasoline of Euro IV standards and 15,000 tonnes of gasoline of Euro III standards through a tender closing on March 11.

The cargoes are to be delivered to Mumbai on April 6 to 10. Offers are to stay valid until March 13. BPCL will shut an 80,000 barrels per day (bpd) crude distillation unit (CDU) and catalytic cracker unit (CCU) for a two-week maintenance starting in April. Its demand comes at a time when Vietnam's Saigon is also out seeking a larger-than-usual gasoline volume as the country's only refinery is shutting down from May to July for maintenance. Supplies are expected to be tighter due to a string of maintenances in Asia.

Taiwan's Formosa, one of Asia's key gasoline exporters, will take a gasoline-making unit down for a 100-day maintenance starting end-March. It has already reduced runs at its plant to about 460,000 to 480,000 bpd from an initial 510,000 bpd.  Formosa operates one refinery, located in Mailiao with a nameplate capacity of 540,000 bpd.

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