Angola began year as China's top oil supplier
[ 2010-03-08
]
Macao, China, 8 Mar - Angola was China's top supplier of oil in January, overtaking Saudi Arabia at a time when Chinese oil companies are seeking to consolidate Angolan offshore positions.
The latest Chinese customs data indicate that the value of oil imports from Angola rose 53 percent in January, versus a 7 percent drop in imports from Saudi Arabia.
Angola is currently China's number one trading partner in Africa and has benefitted not only by the increased quantity but also by the value placed on the ‘sweeter' oil grades characteristic of Africa, market analysts say.
China is the world's biggest oil purchaser after the United States, with January imports of about 4.03 million barrels per day.
In the first month of the year it imported around 685,000 barrels per day from Saudi Arabia, 7 percent less than in the year-on-year period and well below the December 2009 figure of 1.18 million barrels.
The same trend was recorded with imports from Iran, which fell to half of what they were in the first month of 2009 and to a quarter of the December figure.
Imports also surged from Libya (250 percent to 146,000 barrels per day), Kuwait (up one third to 177,000 barrels per day) and Iraq (from zero to 154,000 barrels per day).
In 2009 Angola was China's second biggest supplier of oil, accounting for nearly 15 percent of that country's imports.
It is largely due to oil that Angola is China's top trading partner in Africa and its second worldwide, with commercial exchanges valued at between US$25 billion and 31 billion during the year 2008.
Among all the products traded between the two countries, Angolan oil stands out in the trade figures, accounting for nearly 16 percent of all China's imports.
Despite the international financial crisis, trade between the two countries has notably increased in recent years.
Chinese companies have been seeking to strengthen positions in Angolan oil production. An international tender for various offshore and onshore concessions is due to be launched in the next few months, for which Chinese oil companies have qualified, also in partnership with the Angolan state-held concessionaire Sonangol.
The tender had been postponed for two years due to the market downturn from the international financial crisis. But the recent recovery of oil prices should provide Luanda with better conditions for selling the blocs.
In 2006 Sonangol Sinopec International, a partnership between the Sinopec group and Sonangol, offered the best prices in bidding for 27.5 percent, 40 percent and 20 percent of Angolan oil blocs 17, 18 and 15, respectively.
The Sinopec group currently controls more than 5 million tonnes of oil in western Africa.
Sinopec and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) were recently prepared to buy the 20 percent stake held by the US company Marathon Oil in bloc 32, but Sonangol exercised its right of preference in the deal.
The Angolan state oil company had to pay the same 1.3 billion dollars which Marathon was due and increased its stake to 40 percent.
China imported 204 million tonnes of oil in 2009, up 3 percent over 2008 and corresponding to 52 percent of its consumption.
Nearly 60 percent of China's annual oil consumption, including 190 million tonnes extracted in the country, is refined for use as fuel by vehicles.
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