Bangladesh Petroleum Corp has received offers from 11 companies for fuel supplies in the second half of the year, with Unipec and Vitol looking set to win the tender with the lowest offers on middle distillates and fuel oil, a BPC official said.

Bangladesh Petroleum Corp was looking to buy up to 1.06 million tonnes of gasoil, jet fuel and fuel oil for second-half 2017 delivery in a tender that closed on May 16.

“As per weighted average, Unipec’s offers are the lowest for both gasoil and jet fuel,” said the official from Bangladesh Petroleum Corp (BPC).

“Unipec is supposed to win the tender for both gasoil and jet fuel, while Vitol will win the tender for fuel oil. We will finalize the deals by the end of this month after verifying all other details,” the official said.

Unipec – trading arm of Chinese state oil major Sinopec – has offered to sell gasoil to Bangladesh at $2.27 to $2.47 a barrel premium to Middle East quotes versus other offers at $2.47 to $4.65, according to a document provided by a participant in the tender and seen by Reuters.

Unipec offered jet fuel for the second half period to Bangladesh at a premium of $2.87 a barrel, the document said.

The offers are higher compared with an existing first-half 2017 contract Bangladesh has with Unipec in which gasoil was sealed below $2.20 a barrel and jet fuel at $2.76 a barrel.

As for fuel oil, Vitol had the lowest offer for the second-half 2017 contract at $29.73 a barrel for June-December delivery versus other offers ranging from $41.22 to $67.80.

Vitol’s current contract with Bangladesh to supply fuel oil for January-June was inked at a premium of $15.80 a barrel.

Others who took part in the Bangladesh tender, according to the document, include Trafigura, Glencore, Emirates National Oil Co, Sinochem, PTT PCL , Gulf Petroleum and Swiss Singapore.

Source: Reuters (Reporting by Ruma Paul and Seng Li Peng; Editing by Tom Hogue)