CNOOC Says First Ever Diesel Imports Arrived on Dec 18 in E China

Platts, Jan 5, 2011
China National Offshore Oil Corporation said Wednesday its first ever imported diesel cargo of 27,000 [metric tons] mt from South Korea arrived on December 18, signaling that the country's [largest] offshore oil and gas producer [and the country's third-biggest oil company] is likely to become an active player in the trading of refined products.

"The imported diesel cargo is the first such shipment of refined product procured by the company on the international market and it marks a useful attempt by the company in carrying out importing and exporting of refined products," CNOOC said in a statement on its website.

The cargo imported by its subsidiary, CNOOC Chemical Import & Export Co., was part of efforts by the company to help ease a domestic diesel shortage late last year, said the state-owned parent of Hong Kong- and New York-listed CNOOC Ltd.

The cargo was unloaded at the port of Nanjing in eastern China's Jiangsu province.

In China, only companies approved by the government and granted import licenses can import gasoil, while state-owned China National Aviation Fuel Group is the only organization allowed to import jet/kerosene to supply the aviation industry.

Currently, only four state-owned enterprises -- Sinopec, PetroChina, CNOOC and Sinochem -- have been granted approval and hold licenses to import diesel into the country.

Up until the December cargo, CNOOC has never imported any diesel on its own. [Full story]

(For China's diesel shortage and imports, see also my blog post here. Furthermore, see the Wood Mackenzie provisional data here. Although there is no domestic crude oil production (no proven domestic crude oil reserves), South Korea is home to three of the ten largest crude oil refineries in the world -- SK Energy's Ulsan, GS Caltex's Yeosu and S-Oil's Onsan. -- D.R.)