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Sinochem refuses to buy crude from Rosneft
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
CHINA’S state-run Sinochem Group has report- edly refused to buy crude oil from Russia’s state- run Rosneft. Sinochem International Oil issued a tender on March 16 that excluded Rosneft and its subsidies from participating, Reuters and Bloomberg reported. The subsidiary said in the tender that offers would not be considered if they came “from or related to Rosneft Oil Company and its subsidiaries and affiliates”.
The tender is for the sale and delivery of oil to Sinchem Group’s Quanzhou refinery in eastern China’s Fujian Province.
Sinochem is anticipated to start up a new crude distillation unit (CDU) and a petro- chemical complex at the plant in the middle of the year. The expansion will raise the facility’s capacity from 240,000 barrels per day to 300,000 bpd. The new CDU is understood to be geared towards processing light crude into naphtha for the cracker, while existing units mainly process heavier grades.
While Sinochem has not said why it excluded Rosneft’s cargoes from the tender, Reuters
quoted unnamed sources as saying the Chinese company was concerned by the prospect of fur- ther sanctions on the Russian company.
Washington sanctioned Rosneft Trading in Feb- ruary over allegations that the firm had provided a financial lifeline to the Venezuelan government. The US, which has a total embargo on Venezuela, issued new sanctions against seven of the South American country’s politicians in January, among which was congressional leader Luis Parra.
The US government has set a May 20 dead- line for companies to end their dealings with Rosneft Trading.
Reuters’ sources said Sinochem was concern that Washington would not limit its sanctions to Rosneft Trading and could impose sanctions on other Rosneft units before any purchased oil arrived in China.
Bloomberg, meanwhile, said Sinochem had also refused to accept any cargoes from Iran, Syria and Venezuela. Sinochem also refused to buy oil from Kurdistan, which is home to some Rosneft operations.™
Sinopec, Novatek, Gazprombank apply to set up gas trading JV
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
CHINA’S Sinopec and Russia’s Novatek and Gazprombank applied to the European Com- mission to form a joint venture in China, the EU regulator said on March 17.
The planned partnership will be involved in the import and export and the purchase and sale of gas, including both piped gas and LNG in China, the EC said. It will also invest in gas-re- lated projects in the country.
The company will be known as Sinova Nat- ural Gas. Novatek, Gazprombank and Sinopec signed a heads of agreement (HoA) on establish- ing the joint venture in June 2019.
Novatek ships LNG to China from its 17mn tonne per year (tpy) Yamal LNG plant in the
Arctic, where it is partnered with state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) and Beijing’s Silk Road Fund. Its next major LNG export project, Arctic LNG-2, is due on stream in 2023 and is also expected to deliver considerable volumes to the Chinese market.
Novatek is looking to strengthen its LNG business by controlling the entire supply chain, right down to sales to end-users in China and other key Asia-Pacific markets. As part of its strategy, last year it also struck preliminary deals with Indian LNG developers H-Energy and Petronet LNG on the joint marketing of the super-cooled gas in India. It also entered into a HoA deal with Japanese gas supplier Saibu Gas
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