Recope Tenders to Buy Three Fuel Oil Cargos

(Reuters) - Costa Rica's refining company Recope launched a tender to buy three 165,000 cargos of fuel oil to be received from mid-April to October at Port Moin, according to an invitation seen by Reuters on Monday.

The state-run company has increased imports of fuels since 2013, while planning the upgrade of its 25,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery in Moin, next to Port Limon in the Caribbean.

In recent months, it awarded a contract to U.S. Valero Energy (VLO) to import up to 14.25 million barrels of fuels during 2014 and it also bought on the open market 1.53 million barrels of liquified petroleum gas (LPG) and several cargos of MTBE, a component to oxygenate gasoline.

The cargos being sought this time must contain fuel oil with 2.2 percent or 3 percent sulfur, the company said. It will receive bids until March 3 and prices must be indexed to fuel oil number 6 from the U.S. Gulf Coast.