Asia Naphtha-Bangladesh reschedules export tender

CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh, May 18 (Reuters) - State-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) rescheduled a tender on Sunday to sell 110,000 barrels of open-specification naphtha after cancelling a similar tender last week, officials said.

The tender will now close on June 1, with validity up to June 5. Loading on a free-on-board (FOB) basis from Chittagong will be from June 16 to 19.

The tender floated last month for FOB loading from Chittagong from June 2 to 5 had been postponed on May 13, as the country's state-owned lone oil refinery remained idle due to lack of crude, since May 3.

The refinery began production on Saturday as the BPC restored crude supplies from sources in the Middle East. BPC is the sole importer and distributor of crude and petroleum products in the country.

BPC, owner of the country's sole refinery, the 11 million barrels per year Eastern Refinery Ltd, sold a similar quantity of naphtha to Singapore-based Projector Asia via tender in April.

The refinery produces some 1.8 million barrels of naphtha a year.

(Reporting by Nazimuddin Shyamol; Writing by Nizam Ahmed; Editing by Jason Neely)