Minas sold with premium

Minas sold with premium

SINGAPORE (Reuter): U.S. refiner Chevron Corp has clinched two
new contracts to sell two Japanese trading houses 5,000 barrels
per day (bpd) each of Indonesian Minas crude for one year, close
sources to the company said yesterday.

They said the contract prices were at a premium of 40 U.S.
cents and 45 cents per barrel over the Indonesian Crude Price
(ICP) on a free-on-board basis and would be effective from April
1996. The sources declined to identify the buyers.

Traders said the prices agreed in the new contracts were above
those concluded last year.

The sources said Chevron was still negotiating with other
potential buyers of Minas crude and was now asking for a 50-cent
premium over the ICP.

Chevron has an equity-stake in Minas crude through Caltex,
which it jointly owns with Texaco.

Production of Minas crude is close to 395,000 bpd.