China To Buy Brunei Oil Next Year In Break Through Deal
By Haji Minor Absah & Laila Rahman

Bandar Seri Begawan - Another Asian giant has decided to buy Brunei’s oil. China will import two cargoes of crude from Brunei next year. This comes close on the heels of India’s state-owned Indian Oil Corporation importing crude from the Sultanate earlier in the year.

A signing ceremony on oil framework agreement was held yesterday between Brunei Shell Petroleum Company Sendirian Berhad (BSP) and China Oil, a trading wing of PetroChina Co Ltd at the BSP Head Office in Panaga, Seria.

Present at the signing ceremony were Haji Zainal Abidin bin Haji Ali, Deputy Managing Director of BSP, and Mr. Wei Wei, Ambassador of China to Brunei Darussalam. The Chinese delegation was led by Mr. Su Shulin, Senior Vice President of PetroChina.

The signatories of the agreement were Mr. Reider Saugstad, Finance Director of BSP, and Ms Wang Lihua, President of China Oil.

According to the agreement, BSP will export two cargoes of 400,000 barrels to 600,000 barrels of Seria Light Export Blend (SLEB) or Champion Export (CE) to China between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2004.

Brunei’s total crude oil and condensate sales were 201,000 barrels per day in 2002, an increase of 8,000 barrels per day compared to 2001.

As in previous years, the majority of BSP’s crude (54 per cent) is sold as SLEB, the most well known and popular Brunei blend, followed by Champion Export (40 per cent). The remaining 6 per cent is made up of heavy condensate (3 per cent), Brunei Light (2 per cent) and Berbatik Blend (1 per cent).

The majority of BSP’s crude is sold to Asean countries, mainly refineries in Singapore and Thailand. Japan and Korea are the next biggest importers, with the remaining crude going to Australia, New Zealand, China and the USA. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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