July 22, 2003	Tuesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 21, 1424

SINGAPORE, July 21: Pakistan’s state-owned National Refinery Limited (NRL) said on Monday Trafigura had offered the best bid into its tender to sell full-range naphtha for August through October.

Trafigura bid at a discount of $1.08 a barrel to Singapore spot naphtha quotes for up to 100,000 tons of naphtha for loading from Karachi on a free-on-board basis, the official said.

“We will make a decision later today and it will likely be awarded to Trafigura,” the official said.

The tender, which closed on July 18, was re-issued due to low bids in NRL’s initial offer.

Bids were also heard from Marubeni at a discount of $1.18 a barrel and Glencore at minus $1.19.

Itochu bid for the supplies at minus $1.40 a barrel to Singapore spot quotes, and the lowest bid came from Mitsubishi Corp at $1.63.

In the original tender, Marubeni offered the best bid for the supplies at a discount of $1.21 a barrel to Singapore spot naphtha quotes. Bids in the first tender were heard as low as minus $1.50 a barrel to spot quotes.—Reuters