Oman sells 1 million barrels more crude after refinery fire

Oman has sold 1 million barrels of prompt October loading crude at a low price after a fire shut the Mina al-Fahal refinery last Friday, traders said on Wednesday.

Oman’s state news agency said that state-run Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (Orpic) had issued a statement confirming a small fire on Friday at the 106,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery.

The company said on Tuesday it would restart the refinery in the next few days after its maintenance team repairs the damage caused by the fire.

Orpic said the blaze did not cause substantial damage and said that supplies of oil, diesel and jet fuel would not be affected.

The extra cargo of crude that the refinery closure has freed up was sold to European firm Mercuria Energy Trading at parity or a discount to the grade's official selling price of $109.05 a barrel, traders said.

October Oman cargoes were mostly sold at a premium of $1.30 a barrel to Dubai quotes.

Omani and Mercuria officials were not immediately available for comment.