Commodity traders to submit bids for Italy's IP by May, sources say

By Francesca Landini, Valentina Za and Robert Harvey

MILAN/LONDON (Reuters) -Global commodity traders including Glencore and Gunvor are looking at the possibility to buy oil refiner Italiana Petroli (IP) API group, two sources said on Thursday, adding that binding bids for the company are due by the end of May.

State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) is also looking at the asset, the two sources and an additional person with knowledge of the deal told Reuters.

Glencore, Gunvor and IP declined to comment on the matter. SOCAR was not immediately available to comment.

IP, which is advised by UniCredit on the potential sale, is owned by the Italian family of Brachetti Peretti and has a total refining capacity of around 200,000 barrels per day (bpd). It also holds a network of 4,600 fuel stations.

After the Moratti family sold oil refiner Saras to Vitol last year, a potential deal on IP would give international commodity groups an increasing role in the refining sector in Italy, while private investors retreat as volatility on profits margin increases.

In addition to Vitol's purchase of Saras, which operates the 300,000 bpd capacity Sarroch refinery on Sardinia, global commodity trader Trafigura is part of the consortium that bought the 320,000 bpd ISAB refinery on Sicily from Russia's Lukoil in 2023.

Swiss trading house Petraco also has a stake in Iplom, which operates the circa 40,000 bpd Busalla refinery near Genoa.

It fits into a wider picture of major trading houses snapping up assets in Europe from oil majors and independent firms alike, which might otherwise be looking to close or convert to biorefining their conventional refining assets.

IP owns Ancona refinery and the SARPOM refinery in Trecate, near Novara, and has a tolling contract for the Alma refinery in Ravenna.

Trecate mainly deals with the production of fuels while the other two plants are producing bitumen.

Italian media first reported that the owners of IP were considering the sale of the company, but did not provide details on the timeline for the sale process.

(Reporting by Francesca Landini and Valentina Za in Milan, Robert Harvey in London; editing by David Evans and Ed Osmond)