JLC, December 2, 2019--JLC launched DES Shandong assessments of imported crude oil with Shandong Port Group at the Shandong Port Petroleum Conference 2019 which was held in China’s Qingdao on December 2, 2019.

    The assessment is a milestone, the first one jointly released by a Chinese information company and a port group.

    As more than 90% of global trade in energy commodities is settled at third-party prices, JLC and Shandong Port Group aim to establish benchmark assessments for imported crude oil trading in Shandong ports. The two parties have selected ESPO Blend crude, Lula crude and Djeno crude as the representatives of imported crude oil and released the assessments of their prices.  

    These assessments were released under the direction of the Price Monitoring Center of China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Shandong Price Monitoring Center. International and local traders also gave great support to the assessments.

    The assessments are based on the domestic market and will be good guidance on spot prices, said Mr. Lu Yanchun, Director of the Price Monitoring Center of the NDRC, “They will enhance market transparency, facilitate crude trade and provide guidance to crude prices in Shandong and even China. They will mean a lot to the country’s internationalization of its oil market and its reforms of oil pricing.”

    The demand for imported crude from China increased in recent years due to high economic growth. The imports from Shandong ports account for 35% of China's crude oil imports. The imports are mainly from West Africa, South America, Middle East and Far East. Shandong independent refineries, as major buyers of global crude oil, have significant impacts on global oil market prices, as they import more than one hundred million tons of crude oil a year.

    JLC with headquarters in Beijing and branch offices in Shanghai, Shandong, Guangzhou and Singapore, is a leading provider of market intelligence and pricing solutions for energy and commodities in China.

    Shandong Port Group has a large number of trading customers, and it has also established extensive cooperation with buyers and sellers involved in China's crude oil import trade.