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2018-07-27 12:45:00

U.S. OIL TO CHINA DOWN

U.S. OIL TO CHINA DOWN

PLATTSChina's crude oil imports from the US for July have fallen sharply from June, and are expected to drop even further for August, vessel tracking data showed, as Beijing's tariffs on US crude imports get closer to implementation.

The decline is reflected in changing trade patterns of oil tankers loaded with US crude headed to Asia and in the procurement activity of state-run Unipec, the trading arm of China Petroleum & Chemical Corp or Sinopec, the world's largest refiner by capacity.

"Sinopec will continue to take deliveries of crude from the US in August, but will reduce buying from the producer for the rest of the year," said an executive at a Sinopec refinery, who declined to be named.

Sinopec has lost buying interest in US crude. London-based market sources said Unipec resold its June-loading US cargoes after Beijing announced in mid-June that it was considering imposing a 25% import tariff on US crude. Asian refineries also confirmed receiving offers for Unipec's US cargoes.

Unipec had purchased nearly 16 million barrels of light sweet US crudes in June. These cargoes included the WTI Midland, Eagle Ford, Bakken and Domestic Sweet Blend grades, and were expected to be delivered to China over July-August.

China received 14.65 million barrels of US crude in June, which was a historical high, but volumes more than halved to just 6.9 million barrels in July, according to S&P Global Platts' vessel tracker cFlow. Arrivals in August are expected to shrink even more to around 6 million barrels.

REDIRECTED OIL TANKERS

Oil tankers laden with US crude that were initially headed to China appear to be getting diverted to other buyers, cFlow data showed.

The 317,821 dwt VLCC Layla was chartered by Unipec and departed the US Gulf Coast on June 29, with a 2-million-barrel cargo of US crude, for delivery at Qingdao, China, in August, according to the vessel's original shipping fixture. But its destination has been alternating between South Korea, Japan and India in the last few days.

Similarly, the 299,946 dwt VLCC Aquitaine, carrying a 1.88-million-barrel cargo of US crude, was originally headed for Qingdao but arrived at a terminal in Rayong, Thailand, earlier this week, where PTT has a refinery.

This cargo is in addition to PTT's purchase of around 0.5 million barrels of Bakken crude two months ago, on behalf of IRPC, for delivery over July 20-August 10, Platts reported previously. The 146,639 dwt Cap Romuald is currently on a US-Thailand voyage and expected to arrive at Sriracha on August 10.

Several other tankers on the US-China route are expected to change course in coming weeks.

US crude arrivals in China hit 317,175 b/d in the first seven months of this year. Sinopec had been keen to raise its shipments from the US by around 80% to 200,000 b/d in 2018 from around 112,000 b/d last year. This is now unlikely to happen.

TRADE WAR TROUBLES

On July 6, the US imposed a 25% tariff on Chinese imports worth $34 billion to which China imposed proportional retaliatory tariffs. The next action would be 25% tariffs on another $16 billion of goods, and China has included US crude oil in this batch.

The US Trade Representative's office held public hearings for the tariffs on July 24-25, and has set July 31 as the deadline for rebuttals. The tariffs could take another month to be implemented, and China's response will be immediate.

It is possible that US crude shipments that remain unsold by Unipec continue to head to Chinese ports, but end up as stragglers due to the uncertain date of the tariffs.

"If the tariff is imposed ahead of the US crude arrival, we will put the barrels into bonded storage in China first then decide what to do with them," said a second Sinopec refiner in southern China.

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Earlier: 

S-E.Asia
2018, July, 25, 09:30:00

U.S. - CHINA LNG DOWN

REUTERS - China, which purchased 14 percent of all U.S. LNG shipped between February 2016-April 2018, has taken delivery from just one vessel that left the United States in May and none in June compared with 14 during the first four months of the year.

 
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2018, July, 23, 13:40:00

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2018, July, 23, 13:35:00

РОССИЯ - КИТАЙ: 3 000 000

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 S-E.Asia
2018, July, 23, 13:30:00

RUSSIA'S LNG FOR CHINA

NOVATEK - PAO NOVATEK (“NOVATEK” and/or the “Company”) has shipped its first cargos of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Yamal LNG project to China via the Northern Sea Route.

 S-E.Asia
2018, July, 11, 09:05:00

CHINA: THE LARGEST

EIA - In recent years, as its domestic energy consumption has grown, China has become a more significant destination for U.S. energy exports. In particular, China has been among the largest importers of U.S. exports of crude oil, propane, and liquefied natural gas.

 S-E.Asia
2018, June, 20, 12:55:00

U.S. OIL FOR CHINA

PLATTS - Since the US dropped all limits on crude exports in 2015, China has competed with Canada as the top buyer of US crude. US crude exports to China averaged over 358,000 b/d in the first quarter, up from nearly 175,000 b/d in Q1 2017. US crude's market share in China rose to 3.5% from 0.4% over the same period.

 S-E.Asia
2018, June, 13, 13:35:00

ЭНЕРГИЯ РОССИИ ДЛЯ КИТАЯ

МИНЭНЕРГО РОССИИ - Было отмечено, что отношения России и Китая носят дружественный, добрососедский характер, поступательно развиваются в духе всеобъемлющего стратегического партнёрства: стабильно растет товарооборот, увеличиваются инвестиции.

 

Tags: USA, CHINA, OIL