Page 6 - AsianOil Week 50 2022

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In Saudi Arabia, China’s Xi Jinping

proposes yuan for oil and gas trade

POLICY CHINESE President Xi Jinping has suggested to yuan (RMB) settlement of oil and gas trade,” Xi
Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia that future oil and said during his speech to the China-GCC sum-
Beijing has also gas trading between China and Arab Gulf states mit, according to China Daily. Xi did not give a
secured yuan and ruble could be carried out using China’s yuan currency date as to when this would open.
payments for energy instead of the dollar. But it is a proposal that is Saudi Arabia is the largest supplier of crude
supplies from Russia. not likely to take shape for some time, as the oil to China. In the January-August period this
global hydrocarbon industry uses the dollar to year, the OPEC leader shipped 1.76mn barrels
calculate investment and budgeting. per day (bpd) to China, making up 17.7% of
Beijing is working to strengthen its interna- China’s total crude imports, according to Chi-
tional presence, especially in the Gulf, which nese customs data published by Platts. During
supplies China with the bulk of its oil and gas the January-October period, the GCC delivered
imports. During a state visit to Riyadh, where 4.19mn bpd to China, covering a total of 42% of
he attended a meeting with leaders of the Gulf the market, according to Chinese customs data.
Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, LNG shipped from Qatar, the UAE and Oman
Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE and Oman) and a gath- during the January-October period amounted to
ering of the Arab League, Xi said the Shanghai 13.26mn tonnes, up by 47.4% year on year and
Petroleum and Natural Gas Exchange is open to accounting for more than 26% of China’s LNG
settlements in oil and gas trade using Chinese imports.
yuan instead of the US dollar. Last month, China’s Sinopec and Qatar
Xi also expressed China’s intention to expand Energy agreed on a 27-year supply and pur-
business links with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf chase agreement covering the delivery of Qatari
states. LNG to China until 2053. The value of the deal
“China will continue to import large quan- is reported at $60bn, with 4mn tonnes per year
tities of crude oil from GCC countries, expand being delivered to Sinopec’s regasification termi-
imports of [LNG], strengthen co-operation in nals beginning in 2026.
upstream oil and gas development, engineering During the visit, China and Saudi Arabia
services, storage, transportation and refining, signed investment agreements worth about
and make full use of the Shanghai Petroleum and $50bn in both the private and public sectors,
Natural Gas Exchange as a platform to carry out Bloomberg reported. ™

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 50 16•December•2022