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India's Essar Oil has issued a tender to sell either a 35,000-tonne or 60,000-tonne cargo of 180-centistoke fuel oil for loading next month, according to industry sources.

The fuel oil parcel is said to be scheduled for loading from Vadinar, in Jamnagar, Gujarat on June 19-23.

The tender follows the company's recent sale of two 60,000-tonne cargoes of 180-cst fuel oil to cargo trader and bunker supplier FAL Oil. The parcels were scheduled for lifting on May 17-21 and May 30-June 3, also from Vadinar, where Essar Oil operates its 240,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) refinery.

Earlier this month, refiner and bunker supplier Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOC) sold a 30,000-tonne cargo of 380-cst fuel oil for loading from the southeastern port of Chennai on June 1-4.

The state-owned firm was reported to have sold the parcel to oil major BP at a discount of $5-$6 per tonne to the IOC formula, on a free-on-board (FOB) basis.

Last month Indian Oil sold a similar-sized cargo to BB Energy at a discount of $6 a tonne to the IOC formula, on a free-on-board (FOB) basis.

Refineries have recently resumed exports of fuel oil following the start of the monsoon season, when there is a large drop in electricity usage from utilities and factories.

Exports of fuel oil had been halted in late March when production of bitumen was raised to meet rising demand from domestic infrastructure projects.