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Energy
BusinessCommodities

American oil is flowing freely to China again, after slowing to a trickle

  • Sinopec’s unit Unipec is chartering the Coswisdom Lake tanker, with the capacity for 2 million barrels of oil to pick up crude from the US Gulf coast for delivery to China
  • Another tanker, the Maran Artemis, is off the coast of Qingdao, after picking up oil in Galveston

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An oil drilling rig off the US Pacific coast in California on 4 January 2018 after the Trump administration announced plans to dramatically expand offshore drilling. Photo: EPA-EFE
Bloomberg

It seems Asia’s biggest oil buyer can’t stay away from crude pumped in the world’s fastest-growing supplier for long.

A supertanker laden with US oil is floating off China’s eastern coast, awaiting discharge at one of the Asian nation’s busiest ports. The vessel will soon be joined by more ships that will make the two-month voyage from America as long-simmering trade tensions between Washington and Beijing begin to ease.

While refiners in China shunned US oil imports as the nations imposed tit-for-tat tariffs in an escalating trade war, buying interest has resurfaced on optimism that the world’s top two economies are nearing a resolution to their dispute.

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With geopolitical turmoil disrupting supply from Iran to Venezuela, buyers are feeling more assured the purchases won’t break government regulations, according to refinery officials and traders in Asia.

The oil tanker Coswisdom Lake. Photo: SCMP/Handout
The oil tanker Coswisdom Lake. Photo: SCMP/Handout
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Unipec, the trading arm of state-owned refining giant Sinopec, provisionally chartered the Coswisdom Lake to pick up crude from the US Gulf coast on May 20 for delivery to China, shipping fixtures show.

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