China’s top oil firms to up crude purchases from Libya

China’s top two state oil firms have agreed to lift about 140,000 barrels of crude oil per day from Libya under term deals for 2012, set to raise China’s crude purchases from the North African exporter after supply disruptions last year.

State trader Unipec, the trading arm of top Asian refiner China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, would lift about 100,000 barrels per day from Libya, while Chinaoil, the trading department of PetroChina, would buy another 40,000, traders with knowledge of the deals told Reuters.

The two contracts were signed separately with Libya’s National Oil Company, and cover January-December supplies this year, with Unipec one of Libya’s largest oil clients as its output recovered after a civil war last year.