Indian Oil may bid in future Iraqi tenders

The Indian Oil Corporation is exploring possibility of bidding for Iraqi oil in future export tenders, the company said on Monday.

"If there are tenders, we will look at the possibility of participating," IOC Chairman M S Ramachandran said on the sidelines of the Asian Oil and Gas conference in Kuala Lumpur.

"We have been processing Iraqi crude in the past and we certainly look forward to access to Iraqi crude in the future," he added.

In a separate development, the company signed a one-year contract to buy two million barrels of crude oil from Malaysia's state-owned oil company, Petronas.

Malaysia wants to sell more crude to India and is offering supplies from a newly discovered oil field off the west coast of Borneo.

On the prospects of increase in crude oil imports from Malaysia, he said, "Petronas has got some other oil discoveries so we are looking at those crudes if they are suitable, we can process them."

Ramachandran said it seemed that this crude is similar to the one that comes from Miri oil fields. "But since it's a new discovery, we have to look at the compatibility of this crude with our refineries," he said.