China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) shipped a 60,000-tonne cargo of diesel in late May destined for Brazil, the Chinese major's first move of the refined fuel in a shipment of this size to the Americas, an inhouse newspaper reported on Monday.
Chinaoil, CNPC's trading unit, has shipped nearly one million tonnes of diesel to Latin America since 2015, but mostly with medium-ranged tankers able to carry about 40,000 tonnes, the report said.
The shipment to Brazil was loaded with production from Liaoyang Petrochemical Corp, a subsidiary refinery of CNPC, at Bayuquan port in Liaoning province in northeast China, according to the newspaper.
CNPC aims to further explore the arbitrage opportunities and expand market share in South America, the report said, adding that larger shipments would help cut the logistics cost.
Earlier this year, Unipec, trading arm of top state refiner Sinopec Corp, shipped several very large crude carriers of diesel to Europe and West Africa, a sign of surplus refining capacity in China.
(Reporting by Chen Aizhu; Editing by Tom Hogue)