China To Supply 250,000 Tonnes To Japan

China is expected to supply about two hundred and fifty thousand tonnes of Daqing crude to Japan in June in line with requests by Japanese term buyers, industry sources said on Monday. During May, Chinese companies supplied 250,000 tonnes of Daqing to Japan. The monthly sales, which average 240,000 to 250,000 tonnes - are based on an agreement last month to lift three million tonnes of Daqing for 2002, a figure that is unchanged from 2001.

The medium-heavy sweet crude, marketed by Chinese state oil trader, Chinaoil, is mainly used in thermal power plants in Japan. Daqing accounted for roughly 1 percent of Japan's total crude oil imports in the year ended in March. Japan and China agreed to maintain the term price for Daqing crude in 2002 at 35 cents per barrel over the average of Indonesian Minas and Cinta crude grades.