A 50,000-mt cargo of gasoil that PetroChina imported from South Korea under general trade reached South China's Guangzhou port on Friday, a source with the Guangzhou Customs said.
The fuel is of minus ten pour point and it is equivalent to the GB III standard, an international trader said.
PetroChina imported this cargo to South China probably to make up likely supply shortage, as it sent gasoil from Guangxi Petrochemical to Southwest China in August, according to a source with PetroChina Southwest China Marketing.
"Oil product output of PetroChina's refineries in Northwest China declined obviously because of extensive turnarounds in the third quarter," said the source.
Northwest China is a major oil product supplier for Southwest China.
The after-tax import cost of Singapore fuel oil with 0.05% sulfur content was Yuan 8,126/mt in South China's Pearl River Delta on Aug 17, Yuan 49/mt lower than the wholesale price of Yuan 8,175/mt for zero pour point gasoil in the market, C1's data showed.
Earlier, PetroChina imported gasoil to East China and stored the product in bonded tanks in the Yangshan oil terminal.
GB III gasoil standard requires sulfur content below 350ppm.
