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India's Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) has sold an 80,000-tonne cargo of fuel oil scheduled for loading towards the end of February, Reuters reports.

The 380-centistoke (cst) cargo is due to be lifted from New Mangalore on February 26th-28th after the sale was reportedly made to energy trading company Vitol at a discount of approximately $2.00 per metric tonne to Singapore spot 380-cst quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis.

MRPL also sold a similar-sized cargo to Vitol in December. The 3.5 percent-sulphur parcel of 380-cst fuel oil is scheduled for loading between January 26th and 28th, also from New Mangalore. Vitol reportedly bought the cargo at a discount of $5.70 to $5.90 per tonne to Singapore spot 380-cst quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis.

A month earlier, Japan's Petrosummit also purchased an 80,000-tonne cargo of 380-cst fuel oil from MRPL, however the discount was much greater at around $13.00 a tonne to Singapore spot 380-cst quotes, on a free-on-board (FOB) basis.

Lower discounts are currently being seen in the fuel oil cargo market as Asian demand continues to rise with the possibility that a cut in US refinery output may lead to European cargoes meant for Asia being sent instead to North America.

MRPL is a subsidiary of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (ONGC). Its refinery in Mangalore has a production capacity of 190,000 barrels per day (bpd).