Saudi Aramco's Ras Tanura hydrocracking unit suffered an outage last week, prompting the state oil firm to sell a cargo of A961 fuel oil for end-September loading, with more offers expected, traders said on Friday.

Aramco's problem-ridden 44,000 barrels per day (bpd) hydrocracker is expected to be re-started sometime next week, after undergoing repairs to plug a hydrocarbon leak, industry sources told Reuters.

As a result of the outage, Aramco has sold 70,000-90,000 tonnes of A961 cracked 180-cst fuel oil for Sept. 23-25 loading from the refinery last weekend.

French major Total was seen fixing a fuel oil shipment out of Ras Tanura for end-September loading, shipping reports showed.-Reuters