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MOSCOW (MRC) -- China’s Unipec is
reselling some of the crude oil it imports from the United States to buyers in
India and South Korea to avoid tariffs Beijing imposed in its trade war with the
US, reported Reuters with reference to
sources.
Unipec, the trading arm of Asia’s top refiner China Petroleum
& Chemical Corp, or Sinopec (600028.SS), is China’s main buyer of US crude,
but its imports have been disrupted after Beijing placed a 5% tariff on US crude
imports from Sept. 1.
The sales to South Korea and India are an “unusual
move” for Unipec and directly triggered by the tariffs, the sources
said.
More Asian refiners are buying US crude because of tighter supply
caused by US sanctions on Iran and Venezuela.
Sinopec declined to
comment.
To mitigate losses from the tariffs, the company has also sought
waivers from Beijing for its U. crude oil imports in September and October,
Reuters reported last month.
Unipec, which usually imports 6 million
barrels of US crude such as West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Midland crude to China
per month, is reducing imports to around 2 million barrels on average each month
for September and October when the tariffs start, one of the sources
said.
It initially planned to store more of the oil in bonded tanks, but
then moved to re-sell the oil to other US oil buyers in Asia, namely India and
South Korea, the person said. It was not immediately clear what led to the
change.
“Unipec offered US cargoes that they’ve already purchased to
South Korean refiners after the US new tariffs kicked in,” another one of the
sources said.
The very large crude carrier (VLCC) Dorra was chartered by
Unipec and loaded US crude last August and is now heading to the South Korean
port of Yeosu, according to ship tracking data on Refinitiv Eikon. The VLCC is
expected to discharge in mid-October.
Another VLCC carrying US crude, the
Kirkuk, changed its destination from China’s Shandong port to India’s Sikka on
Aug. 31, one day before tariffs kicked in, according to Refinitiv shipping
data.
A shipping source said the Kirkuk is carrying WTI Midland crude for
Reliance Industries Ltd (RELI.NS) and is expected to arrive at Sikka by the end
of September or early October.
The seller of the cargo is not immediately
known.
Indian refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp’s (BPCL.NS) head of
refineries R. Ramachandran told Reuters that a Chinese trader has offered a
cargo of US oil to the refiner after Beijing’s latest tariff hike. But he
declined to identify the seller. |
