China eyes Caribbean fuel oil market now
MEXICO buy canada goose jacket CITY/BEIJING (Reuters) PetroChina move to take a big position in Caribbean oil storage should give the state oil company immediate muscle in the region residual fuel trade and open up longer term options for crude trading.
PetroChina assumption this week of uk canada goose outlet Saudi Aramco lease on 5 million barrels of oil storage capacity at the strategically located Statia terminal in the Caribbean signaled its intent to build a Canada Goose Coats On Sale global oil trading network. refining and transport hubs on the Gulf Coast.
The Caribbean is growing more important as an oil trading center with the emergence of a possible new sour crude benchmark in the Argus Sour Crude Index. Still, sources say PetroChina initial focus probably is on canada goose uk black friday shorter canada goose clearance sale term marketing goals that Canada Goose Outlet will make it a major player in the Caribbean Canada Goose online or ship fuel, market.
Fuel oil is China most widely imported oil product. It is canada goose uk shop burned in power plants, ships and processed by China small privately https://www.canadagooseoutleta.com owned refineries.
Venezuela has emerged as China biggest supplier of fuel oil as President Hugo Chavez looks to shift the country oil marketing efforts away from the United canada goose States, even Canada Goose Parka though the Caribbean nation lacks access to Pacific ports.
But the fuel oil market in Asia is becoming more competitive as demand growth eases and traders canada goose store fight for market share. Analysts say economies of scale are needed to weather the downturn, driving the expansion of regional players into other markets such as the Middle East and India.
in the center covering both North and South America. If you look at the bunker market alone, it Canada Goose Jackets huge, said another Beijing based PetroChina canada goose factory sale executive. refiner Valero to acquire its shuttered refinery on the island of Aruba.
The Aruba refinery mainly produces fuel oil and unfinished feedstocks, making it potentially canada goose black friday sale an excellent source canada goose clearance of fuel oil blendstocks for the Statia terminal.
But regardless of PetroChina short term plans for the Statia terminal, some oil traders and analysts believe it is only a matter of time until the state backed canada goose uk outlet company begins to use it as part of a crude oil trading network. physical canadian goose jacket crude markets several years ago. But canada goose coats on sale with little of its own production in the region uk canada goose it may be some time until the PetroChina plays a bigger role in regional crude markets.
equity crude it would not make business sense to use the terminal as a crude oil staging point. the margins would canada goose coats be minimal, said Sarah Emerson, director of cheap canada goose uk Energy Security Analysis Inc in Boston.
However, PetroChina is among the companies interested in Venezuela Orinoco heavy oil belt, which could give it significant crude oil canada goose online shop production in the Caribbean basin toward the end Canada Goose Online of the decade.
The widening of the Panama Canal later this decade will also alter the dynamics of the Caribbean market, making it more buy canada goose jacket cheap responsive to market forces in the Pacific.
The $5.25 cheap Canada Goose billion expansion of the Panama Canal will allow the waterway to handle Suezmax ships, which can carry up to 1 million barrels of crude, when completed in 2014. It is expected to open up new trade flows Canada Goose sale for crude oil shipments from West Africa and bolster the role of Caribbean storage in the portfolio of global oil traders.