Sinopec Starts Up $6B Zhanjiang Refinery Complex
Top Chinese state refiner Sinopec Corp said on Tuesday it had started up a $6 billion new refinery and petrochemical plant in south China, making it the country's third integrated complex to start operations in the past 18 months or so.The Sinopec venture, situated in coastal city of Zhanjiang, comprises a 200,000 barrel per day (bpd) crude oil refinery and an 800,000 tonne-per-year ethylene facility, built at a cost of 44 billion yuan ($6.2 billion), Sinopec said in a statement.Two other complexes with combined refining capacity of 800,000 bpd have
China Fixes First U.S. Crude Cargo Since Latest Tariff Threat
Chinese oil trader Unipec chartered a supertanker to ship U.S. crude to China in September, trading sources said, the first such cargo since U.S. President Donald Trump announced additional tariffs on Chinese import, ending a monthlong trade truce.Unipec, the trading arm of state refiner Sinopec , has fixed the Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) Anne to load U.S. crude in mid-September, according to a shipbroker and Refinitiv Eikon data. VLCCs are capable of transporting about 2 million barrels of crude.Unipec has three other vessels…
India's Vedanta Wins 41 Blocks in Small Field Auction
India's Vedanta Wins 41 Blocks in Small Field Auction* Billionaire Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Ltd has won 41 of the 55 blocks auctioned under India's first licensing round for small discovered fields-India's upstream regulator* State-run Oil India has won nine blocks- upstream regulator* India's top explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp was awarded 2 blocks* Hindustan Oil Exploration Co, and GAIL (India) Ltd and Bharat Petro Resources Ltd, the upstream unit of state refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp, have won one block each* Directorate General of Hydrocarbon
China Move to Drop Crude off Tariff List a Relief for Sinopec
China's decision to remove crude oil from its latest tariff list in an escalating trade war with the United States was a relief to state oil firms prompted by a strong lobbying effort by main importer the Sinopec Group, Beijing-based oil sources said.Dropping crude oil from the final tariff list on $16 billion in U.S. goods announced late on Wednesday underscores the growing importance of the United States as a key global producer and critical alternative supply source for top importer China…
China to Cut US Oil Imports Amid Trade Spat
Chinese oil buyers will keep taking crude from the United States through September, but plan to reduce future purchases to avoid a likely import tariff amid a trade spat between the world's two largest economies, multiple industry sources said.Beijing has put U.S. energy products, including crude oil and refined products, on lists of goods that it will hit with import taxes in retaliation for similar moves by Washington.Beijing did not specify when it will impose a 25 percent tax on oil…
India BPCL Seeks Extra Iran Oil Amid Sanctions Threat
Indian state refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp has requested an extra one million barrels of oil from the National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) for June, two industry sources said, amid a looming threat of stringent U.S. sanctions.The move by BPCL indicates that refiners will try to frontload their purchases from Iran ahead of a November U.S. deadline for re-imposing sanctions on the country's petroleum sector.Uncertainties cloud Iran's oil exports after U.S.
U.S. Crude Liftings for Asia to Hit New High in July
Asia's U.S. crude imports hit all-time high in May as WTI discount to Brent falls to widest in three years. The volume of U.S. crude oil arriving in Asia is expected to hit a new high in July as Asian refiners sought arbitrage supplies to replace Middle Eastern crude after prices for Gulf grades rose, traders said on Wednesday. U.S. crude arriving in Asia hit an all-time high of close to 25 million barrels in May with cargoes discharging in China, South Korea, Singapore, India and Malaysia, according to trade flows data on Eikon.
Sinopec Plans Refinery Overhaul, Cuts Saudi Oil Imports
Sinopec's 460,000-bpd Zhenhai refinery plans full shutdown through May. Sinopec Corp will shut down its largest refinery for maintenance throughout May, and at least four independent oil plants have started overhauls this month, curbing China's crude oil demand. The news comes after Sinopec, China's largest state refiner, announced big cuts in its Saudi oil imports. Sinopec's 460,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) Zhenhai Refining and Chemical Company will be shut down from May 1 for 40-day maintenance…
HPCL Makes First U.S. Oil Purchase
Indian state refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corp has made its first purchase of U.S. oil, buying high sulphur crude Mars in a tender, company chairman M. K. Surana said on Monday. Earlier Indian Oil Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp , both state refiners, had purchased the U.S. oil through tenders. HPCL has bought 1 million barrels of Mars oil from trader Trafigura for delivery in December at the southern Indian port of Vizag, he said. Reporting by Nidhi Verma
Sinopec's Tianjin Crude Reserve is in Service
A new commercial crude oil reserve base built by China's Sinopec Corp in northern Chinese port of Tianjin received its first oil shipment on Wednesday, the state refiner said. **The new site consists of 12 tanks each sized 100,000 cubic metres, totalling about 7.56 million barrels. **This is the fourth commercial crude storage site Sinopec has started since 2012 in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei cluster region. The first three sites are in Caofeidian and Tianjin. Reporting by Chen Aizhu
Ex-Sinopec Products Trader joins Vitol
Ren Shiye, the former deputy head of oil products trading at Unipec, Sinopec Corp's trading arm, has joined global commodities trader Vitol as a senior marketing manager based in Beijing. Ren, with nearly 15 years of experience trading products with the Chinese state refiner, started his new role with Vitol in July. Ren confirmed his appointment, but did not elaborate. With Ren's joining, Vitol now has a team of four marketing managers operating from Beijing, dealing in crude oil and refined products.
Saudi Aramco to Sign Yunnan Refinery Deal in 6 Months
Saudi Aramco is expected to sign a final deal with PetroChina, China's second-largest state-run refiner, within six months to invest in its Yunnan refinery, Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih told Reuters on Wednesday. The world's top oil exporter aims to push ahead with its oil investments in China to become the country's biggest source of crude supply and a major player, Falih said. "Yunnan (talks) have reached advanced stages ... We aim to finalise Yunnan within six months," Falih, who is also the chairman of Aramco, said.
IOC Buys More U.S. Crude; to Lift Eagle Ford Shale Cargo
Indian state-refiner IOC bought 1.9 million barrels of U.S. crude in its second import tender seeking oil from the Americas, making it the first Indian refiner to purchase Eagle Ford shale oil, a senior official said on Friday. IOC bought 950,000 barrels of light sweet Eagle Ford shale oil and 950,000 barrels of heavy sour Mars crude for end-October delivery from trading firm Trafigura, the refiner's finance director, A.K. Sharma, told Reuters.
Sinopec to Open Zhanjiang Oil Tanks; SPR Site Delayed
Commercial crude storage of 8.5 mln bbls due start by June; Sinopec also building a rock cavern strategic reserve base nearby. Sinopec Corp is expected to start operating by June a new commercial crude oil tank farm in the southern Chinese city of Zhanjiang, where a large strategic reserve site is also under construction, three industry sources said this week. The new commercial tanks will store 8.5 million barrels, equivalent to over four supertankers.
Sinopec to Supply Cleaner Fuel to Beijing
China's largest state refiner Sinopec Corp on Friday began supplying the Chinese capital with a new, lower-emission grade of petrol and diesel in line with efforts to combat smog that has plagued the country just a month into the winter. Beijing will be the first city in China to adopt Sinopec's new fuel standard - known as 'Beijing Six' - with the country as a whole set to roll out a grade dubbed 'National Five', similar to Europe's 'Euro V' grade fuel, for petrol and diesel from Jan 1.
Bharat Petroleum Looks for More Oil, Gas Assets Already in Production
Indian energy group Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd is looking at buying more stakes in oil and gas assets that are already producing to speed up investment returns, the managing director of the company's exploration business told Reuters. The state-run refiner had previously focused mainly on exploration assets overseas, where it has invested just over $1.5 billion. But the company now also looks at fields that are already producing. In March, it…
Asian Traders Unload Floating Gasoline as Market Flips
Gasoline shifted from tankers to landed storage or sold off; forward gasoline prices to flip to backwardation from July. The number of tankers storing gasoline in waters off Singapore and Malaysia is dwindling as the fuel is sold off or shifted to cheaper onshore storage because of changes in forward delivery terms, traders familiar with the matter said. With the economics of storing the fuel on tankers no longer viable due to a stronger forward market, there are now fewer than three long-range (LR) vessels holding gasoline in the area.
India Pays part of Iran Oil Dues ahead of Modi Visit
Indian refiners have cleared part of the $6.4 billion owed to Iran for crude oil imports in euros through Turkey's Halkbank, three sources privy to the payment said on Saturday. This is the first payment to Iran by India since the lifting of Western sanctions against the Persian Gulf nation earlier this year and comes just ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit beginning on Sunday. State refiner Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd paid $500 million while Indian Oil Corp has settled $250 million through the Union Bank of India…
China's Saudi 2016 Crude Contracts Unchanged
Saudi Aramco to ship 1.1 mln bpd contract crude to China in 2016; share of China crude imports at 15 pct, down from 20 pct in 2012. Saudi Arabia has extended annual crude oil contracts with China for 2016 at almost unchanged volumes for a third year, as Chinese buyers bet on abundant global supplies and low prices to widen their purchase options, senior oil sources said. The kingdom's oil giant Saudi Aramco is expected to ship just over 1.1…
OPEC Members are Cutthroat Competitors: Russell
China's renewing of its oil purchase deals with Iran not only provides a boost to the Islamic Republic's hopes of re-establishing itself in global markets, it also underscores why this week's OPEC meeting is largely irrelevant. The market consensus is that Friday's gathering of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) won't produce any significant change in the group's output policy. This is notwithstanding some apparent tentative signals from top producer Saudi Arabia that it may consider cutting output…
