Saudi Arabia has reportedly rejected requests from China for additional cargos of crude for May and June, according to Reuters.Â
Senior Chinese oil traders told the news agencies that Saudi Arabia has turned down requests from Chinaoil and Unipec – the trading arms of PetroChina and Sinopec respectively – for extra supply of crude, forcing them to seek imports from producers in West Africa, Oman and Russia.
Saudi Arabia “used to provide as and if we asked for extra cargoes on top of contract during the first four months of the year, but not for May and June,” a trader with one of China’s biggest oil importers, who requested not to be identified, told Reuters.
Another source with a Chinese refinery that uses Saudi oil said Saudi heavy crude was “a bit tight” in May and June.
Supplies of heavy crude have also been tightened by the shutdown of two fields jointly operated by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait – the Khafji in October for “environmental issues” and the Wafra last week for maintenance amid a land dispute – taking nearly 500,000 bpd of oil out of production, Reuters reported.
Crude oil exports from Saudi Arabia, the OPEC kingpin, were near record high in April as demand from China continues to grow.Â
The giant Asian economy overtook the United States as the world’s top crude oil buyer in April, with 7.4mn barrels a day of imports, according to Ruters.
