China's Penglai crude shipments land in Singapore, Malaysia -data

By Jeslyn Lerh

SINGAPORE, June 22 (Reuters) - Two crude cargoes loaded from China's Penglai oilfields arrived at Singapore and Malaysia in May and June, Refinitiv data showed, an unusual export from the world's largest crude importer.

Aframax-sized tanker Elephant loaded about 48,000 metric tons of Penglai crude from the field in Bohai Bay at the end of May and arrived at Singapore in mid-June, the data showed.

Earlier, 80,000 tons of Penglai crude was loaded on Aframax vessel Yang Ning Hu in April and arrived at Malaysia in May.

Penglai crude was last exported in March 2022, Refinitiv data showed.

The cargoes were likely headed to Singapore and Malaysia to be blended with other oils to create low-sulphur fuel oil for ships, trade sources said.

Penglai crude is a low-sulphur heavy crude similar to Australian Vincent crude, which is also used in fuel oil blending.

The Penglai oilfields are a group of offshore oil fields operated by the China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) in the Bohai Bay in northeast China.

CNOOC holds a 51% interest in Penglai, while the remainder is held by subsidiaries of ConocoPhillips. (Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh; Editing by Florence Tan and Varun H K)