Asia crude trade hits record volume on Chinese oil giants' deals

[SINGAPORE] Trade volume in Asia's crude market hit a daily record on Monday after close to 6 million barrels of Dubai partials were sold to meet strong demand from a Chinese trader, traders said.

Chinaoil, the trading arm of PetroChina Co Ltd swept up most of the partials from fellow Chinese state trader Unipec during the Platts Market on Close price assessment process, they said.

The trades will result in Unipec, the trading unit of Asia's largest refiner Sinopec, delivering 10 Middle East crude cargoes or 5 million barrels to Chinaoil, the largest volume ever to be delivered in a single day off of Platts' price assessment process, traders said.

REUTERS