Taiwanese state-controlled refiner CPC has purchased a rare cargo of Australian heavy sweet Vincent crude, ahead of a June crude distillation unit (CDU) turnaround that is expected to tighten blendstock component availability at its refinery.
CPC recently bought the end-May loading Vincent from Japanese trading firm Mitsui at around a $5-5.50/bl premium to North Sea Dated, traders said. Vincent is usually sold in volumes of 550,000 bl.
An upcoming CDU maintenance at a CPC refinery in June, expected to last 1-2 months, will limit production of other blendstock components needed for fuel oil production, market sources told Argus. It is unclear which refinery — the 200,000 b/d Taoyuan or 400,000 b/d Dalin — is having the maintenance. Production constraints, arising from the upcoming turnaround, may have prompted CPC to seek alternative blendstocks like Vincent to help meet its fuel oil supply obligations during this period.
CPC is responsible for supplying the majority of Taiwan's bunker fuel at domestic ports.
The Vincent deal marks CPC's first crude purchase from Australia since November 2023, when it received heavy sweet Van Gogh crude, data from oil analytics firm Vortexa show. Van Gogh is similar in quality to Vincent. The last time CPC took Vincent was in March 2023. CPC has mainly relied on US light sweet WTI in the past year, supplemented by medium sour Saudi Arab Light and Abu Dhabi Upper Zakum.
Vincent and Van Gogh, as well as Australian heavy sweet Pyrenees, are valued as blendstocks for very low-sulphur fuel oil production in the Singapore strait region. These grades' heavier density relative to other sweet crude grades make them less economical for refining, and better suited for direct use in fuel oil blending.
