Asia buys up African, Brazilian oil as shipping costs fall

SINGAPORE: Asian buyers have been snapping up Atlantic Basin crude at lower prices after tanker freight rates on cargoes from Africa and Brazil slumped from all-time highs, traders, shipbrokers and analysts said.

Unipec, the trading arm of the world’s top refiner Sinopec , bought some African cargoes last week. Both it and South Korea’s largest refiner SK Energy have chartered vessels at much lower rates to load West African grades in December, the people said.

A major buyer of West African and Brazilian oil, Unipec bought two cargoes of Congolese Djeno crude from at discounts of about $22 a barrel to dated Brent on a free-on-board basis last week, two people who deal in West African grades said.