Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals bought its first cargo of Libyan Mellitah condensate in a tender as it seeks to diversify oil sources to feed its growing refining capacity.

Traders said that MRPL bought 650,000 barrels of the super light oil from European trader Totsa at a premium of USD 1 a barrel to dated Brent for March.

MRPL's refinery has a capacity of 236,400 barrels per day which could be raised by 27 percent to 300,000 bpd by March and to 360,000 bpd by 2015/16.

The refiner had said it may buy less oil from Iran in 2011/12, citing shutdowns, but crude processing data showed the cutback may reflect payment problems with sanctions hit Tehran.

(Sourced from ET)