China data: Norway's Johan Sverdrup becomes independent refiners' second favorite crude in Apr

Singapore — Johan Sverdrup crude from Norway became the second most imported refinery feedstock by China's independent refineries in April, while Russian ESPO blend remained as the most popular grade, a monthly survey by S&P Global Platts showed Friday.

Around 942,000 mt of Johan Sverdrup crude were imported by five companies last month, with Jincheng and Dongming Petrochemical each took an entire VLCC cargo, while the rest three cargoes were all half VLCC by three companies, including Zhejiang Petroleum & Chemical.

It overtook Lula, which usually was the second most crude favored by independent refineries.

"The price of Johan Sverdrup was lower comparing with Lula for April cargoes," said an independent refinery source.

On the other hand, the imports of Lula crude was just 820,000 mt in April, down 3.6% month on month, sliding down to the fifth place.

But ESPO retained its top place last month, with 2.1 million mt arrived in 22 cargoes.

Those were imported by 10 independent refineries, and three trading companies, the most buyers in numbers.

STEADY DEMAND FOR MIDDLE EASTERN GRADES

In addition to Johan Sverdrup, combined imports from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and UAE have remained largely steady.

Total imports increased marginally by 1.3% on the month to 4.79 million mt, from 4.73 million mt in March, accounting for about 36.3% of the total arrivals by those independents in April.

This compared with a portion of 38.8% in March.

Hengli and ZPC were the leading buyers of those crude barrels from the Middle East, with 1.99 million mt and 1.2 million mt, respectively. Those accounted for about 66.6% of the total Middle Eastern grades.

Barrels from UAE have seen the biggest month-on-month increase of 251.9%, while Saudi Arabian grades experienced a sharp drop of 57.4%.

Besides Hengli and ZPC, which each took two VLCCs of crudes from UAE, ChemChina was also a big buyer of Murban and Upper Zakum from UAE, totaling 265,000 mt last month.

Haiyou Petrochemical, which is ready to restart operations, also have one cargo of Sharjah Heavy arrived last month, with 76,000 mt.

BRAZIL, ANGOLA OUT OF FAVOR

Contrast to the solid demand for grades from the Middle East, imports form Brazil and Angola continued to drop last month.

Crude imports from long haul Brazil and Angola, dipped further by 8% and 61.6%, respectively, from March, to slide to the sixth and tenth places last month.

Russia remained as the top supplier to China's independent refineries, with 2.37 million mt arrived, though down 2.3% on the month.

MALAYSIA TAKES FOURTH SPOT

Last month, a total of 1.4 million mt of crudes from Malaysia have been discharged into Shandong ports, making it the fourth top supplier in the month.

Six grades have been imported from Malaysia, including Indo Blend, Kimanis, Lenghun, Mal Blend, Singma, as well as Nemina, all of which are blended grades.

Among these, Indo Blend, Kimanis, Lenghun, Mal Blend, and Singma, have quite similar qualities with Merey crude from Venezuela.

A quality specification paper of Kimanis showed that its API is around 16.7 degree.

Most of those cargoes were imported by Chambroad Petrochemical, Hebei Xinhai Petrochemical, as well as MME, a trading company, according to sources.

NEW NIGERIAN GRADE

Nigerian Okwuibone crude was imported by Hongrun Petrochemical last month, marking the first ever purchase of the grade by the country's independent sector.

The Platts March survey covers crude barrels imported by 38 refineries with import quotas, as well as others without quotas, through ports mostly in Shandong province, as well as Tianjin, Zhoushan and Dalian for the sector.

The barrels include those imported directly by the refiners, as well as cargoes bought by trading companies on behalf of the independent refiners.

The 38 refiners had been awarded a combined total of 129.01 million mt of import quotas in the first batch, accounting for 84.5% of the county's total allocations for independent refineries in three batches.