PetroChina’s increased storage capacity in the dirty and clean markets showed the company’s desire to expand its trading presence in North and South Americas, and possibly, signifies an intention to buy an oil refinery in the U.S., traders in the U.S. told OPIS on Wednesday. PetroChina would increase its presence in the Caribbean, with the expected takeover of more dirty storage space at Statia terminal in Netherlands
Antilles, they said.
From early next year, PetroChina will take over 5 million bbl of dirty storage space at Statia terminal, which is owned and operated by Nustar. This will increase PetroChina’s dirty storage capacity at Statia to 6 million bbl. Statia is the largest bunker fuel or fuel oil storage terminal in the Caribbean.
The lease with Saudi Aramco for that space will expire at the end of this year, and the tenant did not wish to renew.
Traders said that although the current space of 5 million bbl is mostly used to store fuel oil, it could be converted to store crude as well. Besides Statia, PetroChina has a total of 2.5 million bbl of dirty and clean storage space at BORCO in the Bahamas. These tanks are used to store fuel oil, jet fuel and gasoline. Sources said that PetroChina may also have some limited oil storage space of about 500,000 bbl at St. Lucia.
PetroChina is a regular lifter of fuel oil and crude from Venezuela, mostly for delivery to Asia. However, there has been a growing emphasis on regional trade in the Americas. Shipping sources said that PetroChina typically load fuel oil onboard ocean-going tankers at Statia terminal, and crude and fuel oil at BORCO. For clean products, the company has small tank space on the Gulf Coast as well as in the New York Harbor, they said. These tank spaces are mostly subleased from another trading company at a premium to the prevailing market rate.
Some large trading companies were said to have secured more than they needed, leading them to sublet some space to a third party at a premium. The demand for clean storage was relatively high as players sought tanks to store distillates on a contango play. The clean storage tanks at PetroChina in the U.S. are mostly used to store distillates.
Meanwhile, PetroChina is seen actively trading gasoline in the Gulf Coast and New York Harbor, including Colonial pipeline barrels. PetroChina is also a term supplier of gasoline to Costa Rica. Suppliers are likely to come from the Caribbean or the Gulf Coast.
Apart from its new trading office in Houston, PetroChina maintains its U.S. headquarter office in New Jersey.