China’s Sinopec, the world’s top refiner by capacity, has boosted purchases of Russia’s Far East crude for delivery in the third quarter as it looks to secure cargo arrivals amid continued shipping constraints in the Middle East.
State-run Sinopec has acquired as many as 30-40 shipments, or 241,000 to 320,000 barrels per day (bpd), of Russia's Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) for delivery between July and September.
The ESPO blend loaded from Russia’s Far Eastern port of Kozmino takes only about a week to be delivered to China’s east coast refineries.
China has slashed its overall crude oil imports amid the Middle East conflict as its refiners cut run rates and authorities restricted fuel exports to protect domestic supply.
Now China has eased some of the fuel export restrictions, which could lead to a rebound in crude oil imports after the ten-year low seen in June.
