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Marketing Delegation Conclude Successful Visit to China
As part of its
strategic directions, KPC is striving to expand its market base in China,
which is considered the world's fastest growing economy and the second
consumer of crude oil and petroleum products.
In order to augment ties with Chinese clients and to establish a network of
strong relations in the thriving market, a delegation from the International
Marketing Sector headed by Mr. Abdulhakim Al-Mudhaf-Manager Crude Oil Sales
Department, paid a visit to China to attend the historical celebration held
by Petrochina for the first ever delivery of sour crude to its Dalian
refinery after completing its expansion and upgrading. The first ever sour
crude cargo selected by the refinery was Kuwait export crude (KEC).
The delegation comprised of Mr. Haitham Al-Ghais (former manager of KPC
Beijing office & currently Manager of KPC European Regional Office |
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Mr.
Abdulhakim Al-Mudhaf |
in London), Mr. Mohamed AL-Qallaf.
(New Manager of Beijing Office), Mrs. Najla Al-Naifsi- Supply Analyst, Mr.
Fahad Al-Shatti (Representative of Beijing Office) and Mr. Hu Ning (Senior
Market Analyst- Beijing Office).
At the outset of the visit, the delegation was presented with an overview of
the Chinese market by KPC Beijing Office Representatives. The delegation
then held a series of meetings with UNIPEC and China Oil. During the
meetings, current relations and future plans expansion plans of crude export
into China were discussed. KPC through its Beijing office has been following
up closely with Chinese oil companies to identify any opportunities for KPC
to expand its market share in the growing Chinese market for which
competition has intensified amongst producers especially in the past few
years. Notably, KPC ranked as the 17 Crude oil exporter to China in 2004 and
since then has steadily climbed up the ladder to reach position No.10 in
2007.
Moreover, the Marketing delegation visited Dalian refinery which had
recently upgraded and expanded its refining capacity from 200kbpd to
410kbpd. Mr. Al-Mudhaf and the accompanying delegation visited the refinery
to attend the historical special ceremony organized to celebrate the
delivery of the first full cargo carrying Kuwaiti crude oil to China's
largest refining base in the northeast port city of Dalian. Mr. Al-Mudhaf
expressed KPC's willingness to expand the current level of oil supply to
China, and to boost cooperation with domestic oil giants. The celebration
was held at the terminal in Dalian where the very large crude carrier called
"Taizan" which had loaded a full cargo of 2 million barrels of KEC in Mina
Al- Ahmadi earlier on in July had just arrived. The Chinese side was
represented by Mr. Wang Jiguo- refinery vice president and local government
and port authority officials. It was also widely covered in the Chinese
local media.
It is important to mention that Dalian refinery is equipped with the
possibility of processing sour grades and that KPC was the first supplier to
this refinery; an achievement that reflects KPC's special relation with
China's refineries. Additionally, the Dalian refinery used to process only
sweet crudes due to technical constraint. However, according to China
National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), PetroChina's parent, all six
large-sized refining units will be put into use at the Dalian refinery by
late this year to make it capable of processing 15.5 million tons a year
(310,000 bpd) of high sulphur, or "sour" crude. Currently, the sour crude
oil accounts for more of the global crude oil output and the prices are
comparatively low.
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