China’s Unipec to buy US oil after Xi-Trump tariff truce

Chinese oil trader Unipec plans to resume US crude shipments to China by March after the Xi-Trump deal at the G20 meeting reduced the risk of tariffs being imposed on these imports, three sources with knowledge of the matter said.

The sources told Reuters that Unipec — the trading arm of state refiner Sinopec — is looking to import US oil by March 1, which marks the end of a 90-day negotiating period agreed by the leaders of the world’s two biggest economies.

China’s crude oil imports from the US ground to a halt in October as this year’s trade war between the two countries escalated.

“Chinese buyers who want to buy US crude will rush to import the oil during this window,” a senior executive from Asia’s largest refiner Sinopec said, adding that the oil has to arrive in China before March 1.

“Oil prices are low, so it makes economic sense to store some crude as commercial inventories,” said the executive, who asked not to be named.

Sinopec said that it has a policy not to comment on specific trade deals. Unipec did not respond to an email.

Oil prices have slumped by about a third since early October amid an emerging glut, triggering expectations that OPEC will agree to supply cuts at a meeting this week.

It was unclear how much oil Unipec — China’s largest crude oil importer — would order from the US, but one of the sources said the company could lift a record volume of oil in January.

China’s previous record for a month came in January 2018, when it imported about 472,000 barrels per day (bpd) from the US.