China’s Shandong Yulong Petrochemical Co. has purchased spot crude cargoes in preparation for the start of its new 400kb/d refinery according to Bloomberg sources.

• Oman and Russian ESPO crude have been purchased for April and May arrival. The spot cargoes of more than 2mbbls were purchased from a Chinese major.
• The refinery is preparing for trial runs of its crude processing units by the end of Q2, the sources said.
• The crude may be stored in bonded storage with no official oil import quota allocation for Shandong Yulong yet.
• Last year Saudi Aramco were reported to be in talks to buy a stake in Shandong Yulong and supply the project with crude.