Sinopec, BP to expand bunker deliveries to eight Chinese ports
China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (600028) and BP Plc (BP/) will supply shipping fuel to customers in eight more Chinese ports under s joint-delivery contract signed last year, Bloomberg reports.
BP and Sinopec, as China Petroleum is known, will distribute shipping, or bunker fuel, to the ports of Ningbo, Zhoushan, Shanghai, Lianyungang in the east, Xiamen, Shenzhen, Yantian in the south and Tianjin in the north, according to an e-mail to BP clients obtained by Bloomberg News. Zhou Yiqing, vice-manager of the bunker department at the fuel-oil unit of Sinopec, confirmed the cities.
The plan is part of an agreement the two oil majors signed in August to work more closely in the global bunkering business. The companies have completed several deliveries to ships in eastern China’s Qingdao since April, said Zhou in an interview on June 22.
Under the agreement, BP opened its global bunkering network to Sinopec clients, while Sinopec’s China network will be available to BP customers, Zhou said Dec. 27. The London-based company will start bunker deliveries in more Chinese ports after they acknowledge the barges meet the safety and environment standards, said Zhou.
Under the contract, BP brings their shipping customers and manages the whole bunkering process, while Sinopec provides the fuel cargoes, according to Zhou.
Sinopec’s fuel-oil sales group and BP’s Singapore unit have signed a supply agreement to support each other’s strategy to develop global bunkering opportunities, the London-based company said in an e-mail without comment on the expansion plans.
The Chinese company has supplied bunker fuel to vessels in Panama and Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates last year through BP’s distribution network, according to a Feb. 2 statement.
