Unipec Books Tankers to Ship Crude from US to Asia

China's Unipec has provisionally booked two very large crude carriers (VLCC) to ship crude oil from U.S. Gulf coast to Asia, shipping fixtures showed on Tuesday.

New Courage has been tentatively booked to load crude oil from U.S. Gulf coast on Sept. 22 while Awtad has been booked to load oil from U.S. Gulf coast over Sept. 23 to 26, according to the fixtures.

The destination for both tankers has been provisionally set for Singapore, though this could potentially change.

Sinopec, Unipec's parent company, did not immediately respond to an email query on the matter.

Reuters reported in August that Unipec will resume purchases of U.S. crude oil in October after a two-month halt due to the trade dispute between the world's two largest economies.

There has not been a single loading of crude oil from the United States bound for China since July 31, Thomson Reuters Eikon data showed.

(Reporting by Jessica Jaganathan; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)