KPC Signs MOU with China‘s Unipec on Crude Supply

Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Chinese oil trader Unipec for crude oil supply over the next decade, saying the volume would be raised to at least 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) by the end of 2021, KPC said.

The MOU was signed in November during a visit to China by a KPC International Marketing delegation KPC said on its website (www.kpc.com.kw).

It said a 10-year crude term contract will start next year, and by the end of 2021, the volume of crude imported from Kuwait by Unipec should increase to 300 kpd minimum.

It did not specify the current term crude volume between KPC and Unipec, the trading arm of top Asian refiner China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec).

The KPC delegation also met officials of trading firms ChinaOil and Zhenhua Oil to exchange market views and discuss future cooperation, it added.

In January, KPC said it exported about 225,000 bpd of crude oil to China and expected the shipments to reach 500,000 bpd when a joint venture refinery in China between Sinopec and Kuwait begins production.

Sinopec and KPC last month started building the $9.3 billion joint refining and petrochemical complex in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong.

The project, including a 300,000-barrel-per-day refinery and a 1-million-tonne-per-year ethylene cracking unit, was expected to come on line in 2015, Sinopec has said.

The project will provide a stable outlet for Kuwait, the world's seventh-largest crude exporter, while giving China, the world's second-largest oil buyer, a steady supply as demand keeps pace with solid economic growth.

(indiatimes.com)