Egypt's state oil firm EGPC has agreed to buy a total of 19 cargoes of gasoil from oil and commodity traders Glencore, Litasco, Mercuria and BP for delivery between October and December, traders said on Wednesday.

Glencore is due to supply two cargoes each month from October to December to the port of Alexandria at a premium of $19 a tonne over Mediterranean spot quotes.

Litasco, trading arm of Russia's Lukoil, will sell a total of three cargoes over the three month period at premiums varying between $16.87-18.46 a tonne to the same port.

BP will supply one cargo of gasoil to the Alexandria port in November at a premium of $19 a tonne. EGPC had originally tendered for a total of 12 cargoes for Alexandria but cancelled the other two.

Glencore will also deliver three cargoes into El-Dekheila Port, from October to December at a premium of $19 a tonne over spot Mediterranean quotes, after tendering to buy six cargoes via this port.

Mercuria will supply the gasoil cargoes to be delivered into the Red Sea port of Suez. The oil trader will supply a total of six cargoes throughout the last quarter at a premium of $7.54 over Middle East quotes for the October and November cargoes and at $7.69 for the December cargoes.

Further six other cargoes that EGPC originally tendered for are still under evaluation, traders said.

Economic turmoil since a popular uprising unseated Hosni Mubarak last year has stretched Egyptian finances and raised the premiums that the state petroleum company has to pay for fuel.

Some tenders had been left unawarded while in some cases EGPC ended up buying much less than it tendered for. Industry sources say the government owes foreign energy producers at least $3 billion.

Source: Reuters