According to sources in the trade, Rongsheng Petrochemical purchased 2.65 million barrels (or 98.4 million gallons) of heavy crude oil for delivery in February from the Americas.

Sources said that the three Canadian crude cargoes, each of which is 550,000 barrels, will be exported via Trans-Mountain Pipeline (TMX), along with 1 million barrels from Ecuadorian Oriente crude.

Rongsheng rarely comments on commercial transactions.

ExxonMobil and Vitol each sold one shipment of Canadian Access Western Blend crude (AWB), while ExxonMobil said they will deliver one shipment of Kearl Lake oil.

They said that the TMX cargoes sold for $4 less per barrel than ICE Brent, on a cost-and freight (C&F basis).

Kearl Lake and AWB are both diluted heavy bitumens that are acidic and produced by Canadian Natural Resources.

One source said that PetroChina had sold the crude cargo Oriente.

(source: Reuters)