Sinopec, Asia's largest refiner, will boost US crude oil imports to an all-time high, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.
The company's trading arm Unipec has bought 16 million barrels, or about 533,000 barrels per day (bpd), of US crude to load in June, they said, the largest volume ever to be lifted in a month by the company.
"The government has encouraged us to lift more US crude," one of the sources said.
Sinopec could not immediately be reached for comment.
China has said it will buy more US goods to reduce the huge trade deficit with the US. Energy and commodities are high on Washington's list of products for sale.
Unipec's June oil purchases would be worth about $1.1 billion at current prices.
They would represent a notable increase in China's imports of US crude, which averaged at about 330,000 barrels a day for the six-month period that ended in February, according to data from US Energy Department.
An arbitrage opportunity has also opened up after US crude futures recorded the widest discount in three years against Brent at $8.06 a barrel last week, enabling Unipec to boost imports to replace more expensive Middle Eastern oil.
Washington is keen to sell more of the country's surging oil and gas production. However, US energy exports can grow only gradually due to infrastructure bottlenecks, and only if US oil, gas and other goods remain attractively priced compared with global competition.
"We want to buy more but they might not be able to export more" because of infrastructure constraints in the US Gulf Coast, a source said.
The US exported a record 2.6 million bpd of crude oil in the week that ended with May 11. Analysts estimate that the country's limit is somewhere between 3.5 million and 4 million bpd.
Editor:Yaling
