IOC buys 3 million bbls West African crude

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian Oil Corp (IOC.NS) has bought three million barrels of West African crude oil via a tender for June lifting, including a rare purchase of Nigeria's Okwuibome grade, three trade sources said.

The country's biggest refiner purchased a million barrels of Okwuibome oil from trader Glencore as a trial cargo for processing at some of its own plants, the sources said.

Earlier, IOC bought a similar size parcel for December lifting for processing at plants owned by its subsidiary Chennai Petroleum Corp (CHPC.NS).

IOC also bought a very large crude carrier containing about a million barrels each of Nigeria's Zafiro and Qua Iboe grades, two of the sources said. Vitol sold both the crudes, they said.

Price details were not immediately know. An IOC spokesman decline to comment on the tender purchases.

IOC, along with subsidiary Chennai Petroleum, controls about 31 percent of India's oil refining capacity of 4.3 million bpd.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Tom Hogue)