India BPCL awards 12-mth Murban crude import tender to Total- sources

NEW DELHI/SINGAPORE, Jan 31 (Reuters) - India's state-run Bharat Petroleum Corp BPCL.NS has awarded a 12-month tender to import 1 million barrels per month of Abu Dhabi's Murban crude oil from April to TotalEnergies TTEF.PA, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.

The deal comes as India refiners look for alternative sources of crude - mainly Middle Eastern grades - after traders stopped offering Russian oil due to stringent U.S. sanctions.

Washington earlier this month imposed sweeping sanctions targeting producers and tankers in the world's second biggest exporter, disrupting supply and tightening ship availability.

BPCL finalised the Murban tender at a discount to the grade's official selling price (OSP), one of the sources said.

Separately, the refiner also made a rare purchse of 1 million barrels of Ghana's low-sulphur Sankofa crude oil through a spot tender for March loading, the same source said

The price was not immediately available.