Tariffs Didn’t Stop These Six Ships Carrying U.S. Oil to China

(Bloomberg) -- China’s first-ever tariffs on U.S. oil imports fell short of stopping six supertankers from discharging shipments at ports in the world’s biggest crude consumer.

Very large crude carrier Ardeche unloaded a cargo of American crude at Ningbo on Oct. 12, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. Ardeche was the last of six ships to discharge American crude in China after they loaded from mid-June to July before Beijing announced 5% duties on imports from the U.S. starting Sept. 1. One of the supertankers, Svet, offloaded U.S. oil around Sept. 1, making it unclear whether the shipment was affected by tariffs.

China skipped crude purchases from the U.S. for four of the six months through March this year amid heightened trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies. In late August, the trading arm of China’s state oil giant Sinopec raced to sell American oil that was already en route to China, but the shipments were considered too prompt for other oil buyers.

The U.S. oil shipments may have gone into bonded storage in China, which means they don’t clear customs and therefore aren’t immediately liable for import levies.

See also: Millions of Barrels of Iranian Oil Are Piled Up in China’s Ports

After dropping off its cargo in Ningbo, Ardeche is now sailing near Taiwan. The tanker has been provisionally booked for a journey from the Middle East to Singapore early next month at a rate equating to $327,853 excluding idle days, according to a fixture report listed by shipping pool Tankers International.

--With assistance from Dan Murtaugh and Firat Kayakiran.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sharon Cho in Singapore at ccho28@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Serene Cheong at scheong20@bloomberg.net, Dan Murtaugh, Andrew Janes

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.