Preliminary tanker tracking data indicated that China would import about 12.2 million barrels of US crude in August, falling from at least 13.82 million barrels in July. However, the imports are estimated to surge in September. Provisional tanker booking data showed that at least 12 VLCCs are scheduled to load up to 25.1 million barrels of American oil in September for delivery to China.
Beijing and Washington signed a phase-one trade deal last year, under which China pledged to ramp up its purchase of US energy products. China’s imports of US crude oil were initially expected to increase at the start of 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the market. Now that fuel demand is recovering in China, Chinese refiners begin ramping up their throughput and imports.
Sinopec, a key buyer of US crude, begins filling new storage capacity in central China. Unipec, a trading arm of Sinopec, chartered 6 of 18 China-bound vessels scheduled to load between August 18 and September 30. The Dongjiakou port will open a new VLCC berth in September which is expected to raise China’s crude import capacity slightly.
