China Buying Unprecedented Amounts Of African Crude Oil

[hatrack]

New York - China, the world's biggest oil user after the US, is buying a record amount of African crude oil this year as Asian prices surge and on concern attacks on pipelines and terminals may disrupt supply from the Middle East.

China Petroleum & Chemical and PetroChina, the nation's biggest refiners, doubled purchases of oil this year from West African suppliers such as Angola and Gabon, according to interviews with 10 oil traders in Asia.

"West African oil exports to China and other Asian buyers are rising at seven times the rate of the region's sales to the US, according to Purvin & Gertz, a consultant in Houston, Texas.

"The volumes heading East to Asia will grow and grow," said Abdallah Kharma, acting head of international oil trading at China Aviation in Singapore. West African crude oils are prized by fuel makers because they contain less sulphur than most Middle East grades, making them cheaper to turn into the motor fuel.

Competition from China has contributed to shortages in the US that have driven fuel prices to a record.

Asian refiners may buy 1.7 million barrels a day of west African crude by 2010, almost double the 1 million barrels a day they bought last year, according to Purvin & Gertz."

EDIT

http://www.evworld.com/view.cfm?section=communique&newsid=5639

[On the Road]

1. Wow -- the US is Not the Only Buyer Any More

and may not even be the swing buyer. The Chinese and Indian renaissance means shortages of oil and raw materials and coming stagflation. JMO.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. Wait till they start buying...

scrap steel for their mills. The Japanese did that in the '80s and sent the prices through the roof.