Oil Tankers Face Delay At Shangdong On Wrong Labelling

Tankers delivering to ports in China’s Shandong province are facing delays discharging their oil due to orders for tighter customs inspection checks after several Iranian cargoes were declared as diluted bitumen, traders said.

• Crude oil, unlike bitumen, is subject to strict import quotas and dozens of oil tankers were being inspected since last week, after customs authorities were given instructions in late March to step up checks.
• The delays at the terminals could cause further reductions in already low operating rates among the independent refiners in Shandong, accounting for a fifth of China’s crude oil imports.
• The clampdown came after several shipments of diluted bitumen delivered to the northern port Tianjin were found to contain an unusually high amounts of lighter hydrocarbons that normally exist in crude, three of the traders said.
• Authorities have placed about 1.6mn barrels of oil in bonded tanks in Tianjin and Shandong, and are holding up several other shipments totalling about 8mn barrels from clearing customs, sources said.