Oil-thirsty China to raise Kuwaiti imports by 50 pct

BEIJING (Reuters) – China has agreed to raise 2010 crude imports from Kuwait by 50 percent to about 240,000 barrels per day, trade sources told Reuters, with Chinese refiners set to to process at record rates as demand rebounds strongly.

The jump, which follows a one-third increase this year, comes after Iraq said it would more than double exports to the world’s second-largest oil consumer and Saudi Arabia agreed to a 12 percent increase for 2010.

“The deals have been finalised,” said a trade source familiar with the term supply agreements. “It’s a big increase.”

“Sinopec has raised the volume quite sharply,” said a second trade source.

The increases from Iraq and Kuwait, both of which supply mostly heavy, high-sulphur oil, are partly due to top exporter Saudi Aramco cutting back on similar grades Chinese oil refiners consider more economic to process, traders said.

But more importantly, it’s the expected demand increase from China that has led to the supply growth.

Reuters