MOSCOW (MRC) -- PetroChina is last week unloading the first Chinese purchase of crude oil from US strategic petroleum reserves at a port in eastern China, according to shipping data and two industry sources, reported Reuters.
The move comes as China, the world's No.2 oil consumer, steps up imports from the Americas to diversify supply sources.
PetroChina unit, PetroChina International America Inc, bought the 550,000-bbl cargo of Bryan Mound sour crude in a sale from US strategic petroleum reserves in March for USD28.8 MM.
Supertanker Cosrising Lake, chartered by PetroChina, is unloading the US oil at Qingdao port in Shandong province this week, shipping data on Thomson Reuters Eikon showed.
The crude has an API gravity of 33.3 degrees and sulfur content of 1.41%, according to the US Department of Energy's website, similar in quality to Middle East grades such as Oman crude.
After discharging that cargo, the ship will unload close to 1 MMbbl of US Mars crude at Rizhao port for independent refiner Shandong Wonfull Petrochemical, an industry source said, citing Chinese port data. He declined to be identified as he was not authorised to speak with media.
The Mars cargo is not from US strategic reserves.
PetroChina declined to comment, while Wonfull could not be reached for comment.
More Asian refiners are turning to the Americas for oil after OPEC cuts tightened heavy crude supplies and as governments respond to a call from United States President Donald Trump to buy US oil and gas.
State-owned PetroChina is one of the key players moving Americas crude to Asia. It recently sold India that country's first US crude import via an Indian Oil Corp tender.
As MRC reported earlier, in late 2015, PetroChina, China's largest oil and gas producer, commissioned a new crude oil refinery in China. Located at Anning in Yunnan province of China, the refinery has a crude processing capacity of 260,000 bpd.
PetroChina Company Limited, is a Chinese oil and gas company and is the listed arm of state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation, headquartered in Dongcheng District, Beijing. It is China's biggest oil producer.
MRC