Recasts, adds details on crude tenders

By Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI, June 18 (Reuters) - Indian Oil Corp IOC.NS, the country's top refiner, issued tenders on Thursday to charter vessels to lift liquefied petroleum gas and oil from ports inside the Strait of Hormuz, tender documents showed.

The tenders - the first to be issued by IOC since the U.S. and Iran signed an interim agreement to end their war and reopen the waterway - are for chartering a very large gas carrier (VLGC), a Suezmax tanker and a very large crude carrier (VLCC), the documents show.

A VLCC typically carries 2 million barrels of oil, and a VLGC can hold about 45,000 metric tons of LPG - a mix of propane and butane used in India mainly as a cooking gas. A Suezmax carries about a million barrels of oil.

IOC seeks to lift LPG between June 30 and July 4 from the ports of Ras Laffan in Qatar, Mina Al Ahmadi in Kuwait or Ruwais in the UAE, the document showed.

The refiner is looking to charter a VLCC to lift oil from Mina Al Ahmadi between June 28 and 29 and a Suezmax for loading cargo between June 29 and 30 from Ras Al Khafji port in Saudi Arabia for deliveries on India's west coast, the document showed.