UPDATE 2-Japan sells Qatar Marine crude to Nippon Oil

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TOKYO, May 14 (Reuters) - Japan's trade ministry has sold 76,000 kilolitres (about 478,000 barrels) of Qatar Marine crude oil for July loading to the nation's biggest refiner Nippon Oil Corp (5001.T: Quote, Profile, Research) in a tender to resell some national reserves, a ministry official said on Wednesday.

The ministry sold all the medium heavy crude it offered last month. Nippon Oil is scheduled to receive delivery from a tank in Iwaki City in Fukushima Prefecture, north of Tokyo.

The tender was issued because Mitsubishi Corp (8058.T: Quote, Profile, Research), Japan's top trading house, which owns the tank where the crude oil is stored, was cancelling its contract with the government and there were no empty government-owned tanks.

Interested buyers had been instructed to submit bids based on premiums or discounts to Qatar Marine's official selling price for July or August. But the official at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry declined to comment on details of the price.

The July loading cargo should be usually delivered to the buyer in Japan sometime between July 20 and August 20.

In the spot crude market, U.S. major Chevron recently bought Qatar Marine crude for July loading at a premium to the benchmark Qatar Petroleum (QP), traders said. (Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori and Risa Maeda)