China’s Shandong Yulong Petrochemical has bought its first Canadian crude oil cargoes exported via the Trans Mountain pipeline (TMX) for September and October delivery, trade sources said, as the new refiner diversifies its supplies.
Yulong bought an Access Western Blend (AWB) cargo for September delivery at a discount of about $1.50 a barrel to November ICE Brent from Macquarie, two of the sources said, and another cargo for October delivery from Totsa at a similar discount to December ICE Brent. Each cargo is about 550,000 barrels.
Yulong did not immediately respond to a Reuters’ email seeking comment. Macquarie and TotalEnergies do not comment on commercial matters.
These were Yulong’s first purchases of Canadian oil since the new refiner started its 200,000 barrel per day crude processing last September.
AWB is a type of heavy and highly acidic diluted bitumen produced by Canadian Natural Resources and MEG Energy.
Yulong has also recently made a rare purchase of Russia’s Urals crude, trade sources said.
The refiner normally buys Russian Far East ESPO grade and West African crude, they said.
(Reporting by Siyi Liu and Florence Tan in Singapore; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)