 "Petrobras scrambles diesel armada from India after refinery fire")
Brazil's state-run Petrobras has booked extra cargoes of fuel from India, most of it diesel, market sources said on Friday, after a fire two weeks ago shut down its fifth-largest refinery.
Indian refining company Reliance , which has become a routine supplier in helping Brazil fill its widening import gap, will ship Petrobras some 2.9 million barrels of diesel during December.
Petrobras has bought three cargoes and is negotiating an additional shipment after the incident at the 200,000 barrel per day (bpd) REPAR plant in Araucaria, in Parana state, traders said.
Further shipments are likely to follow, adding to an abrupt pick-up in Latin American demand for imported fuel that has helped bolster refinery profit margins globally.
Ecuador is also scrambling for extra shipments after a fire at its main facility, the 110,000 bpd Esmeraldas refinery.
Due to the problems at REPAR, Petrobras is now set in December to receive a total volume of 3.65 million barrels of fuels from Asia, up at least 20% from November.
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The Greek-flagged Aframax tanker Myrtos is scheduled to arrive at an undisclosed Brazilian port on December 19-20 to deliver some 700,000 barrels of diesel purchased before the fire, according to traders and Reuters' ship tracking system.
The cargo, loaded on November 16 at the Indian port of Sikka that serves Reliance's 670,000 bpd Jamnagar refinery, would help Petrobras to supply fuel to gas stations located in southern Brazil, after the company limited its supplies to several cities.
REPAR produces some 100,000 bpd of diesel and 60,000 bpd of gasoline for Brazil's south, including parts of Sao Paulo - the country's industrial and agricultural heartland and richest state. It accounts for some 11% of domestic capacity.
The fire occurred at one of the refinery's distillation units, forcing the stoppage at the facility. REPAR is expected to resume operations on December 17, but it will only be able to operate at two-thirds capacity due to the damage, a director at Brazil's ANP said on Friday.
Even though the Brazilian energy regulator allowed Petrobras this week to use a crude pipeline to transport diesel to the refinery, the firm needs to receive more imported fuel to satisfy domestic demand, analysts said.
The state-run company also launched a tender last week to buy one 300,000-450,000 barrel cargo of ultra low-sulfur diesel (ULSD) for delivery December 22-28. It imported an average of 55,600 bpd of gasoline between January and October, according to one independent study, causing a lost of some $130 million dollars because of the internal subsidies.