China Daily Oil Summary: Sinochem Buys TMX Cargo

China’s Sinochem Group has purchased a 550kbbl cargo from Suncor Energy Inc loading from the Trans Mountain Expansion pipeline in May-June according to Bloomberg sources.

• Chinese crude oil imports in February were mostly stable on the month at 44.14mn tons, but up by 8.4% year on year, with more sanctioned barrels arriving in China, official customs data showed.
• Chinese oil products exports in February declined to 4.2mn tons, down from 4.62mn tons in January and 32.4% lower on the year, official customs data showed.
• Chinese fuel oil imports declined by around 33% on the month to 1.442mn tons in February, official customs data showed.
• The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) will likely cut its policy rates and guide down the reference lending rate later this year as inflation remains soft and weighs on the economy's real funding cost, however, its refreshed remit from the central government to ensure banks' profits and prevent idle funds could limit the reduction's size.
• POLICY: China's Loan Prime Rate remained unchanged according to a PBOC statement, in line with market expectation following the February's significant LPR cut and the hold of a key policy rate on March 15.