Taiwan’s CPC to receive first US Bakken crude cargo in August
Taiwan’s CPC has bought its first cargo of the US Bakken crude for delivery in August, as the refiner looks to expand its US crude feedstock slate beyond the usual purchases of WTI Midland crude, a source with knowledge of the matter said Wednesday.
The company will take delivery of around 600,000 barrels of the light, sweet grade in August, to be co-loaded with 1.4 million barrels of WTI Midland crude in one VLCC.
Details on the seller were unclear, although the source said the grade was bought at a premium in the high-$2s/b to Platts Dated Brent on a delivered basis.
Bakken crude has been on CPC’s procurement list for sweet crudes for a while. This was the first time that the company was trying out the grade, the source said.
CPC will be open to further purchases of Bakken crude in the future if it fits well with their refineries, the source added.
In the same tender, CPC also bought for August-delivery another two VLCCs of WTI Midland crude, as well as around 1 million barrels of Angola’s Palanca crude.
Taiwan has emerged as one of the top buyers of US crude in Asia in recent years, largely due to CPC’s large purchases of US crude in its sweet crude tender each month, although this has been mostly restricted to WTI Midland crude.
The country’s other main refiner, Formosa Petrochemical Corp, has been less active on the US crude front. It bought its first US cargo of medium, sour Mars crude for delivery over September to October last year.
Source: Platts