CHINA’S proposed tariffs on U.S. petroleum imports, part of a mounting trade war between the two countries, would crimp sales to the shale industry’s largest customer, adding new pressure on U.S. crude prices, energy executives and analysts said in interviews this week. China has said it would slap a 25 percent tariff on imports of U.S. crude, natural gas and coal July 6 if the U.S. Government went ahead, as planned, with its own tariffs on Chinese goods that day. Energy would be added for the first time to a burgeoning trade dispute that has hit imports of Chinese metals and solar panels, and exports of U.S. medical equipment and soybeans. Targeting petroleum puts the Trump administration’s “energy dominance” agenda in China’s crosshairs as U.S. shale has grabbed share from Middle East suppliers in Asia. China is the largest customer for U.S. crude, importing about 363,000 barrels a day in the six months ended in March. Shipping data show those exports have increased since, rising to an expected 450,000 barrels a day in July. “It is going to hurt everyone for the short term,” said Ron Gasser, vice president at Mammoth Exploration, a western Texas shale producer. While U.S. crude will continue flowing to market even with tariffs, “it’ll force you to put your oil somewhere else, and it’ll cost you more” to line up other buyers. U.S. oil exports have steadily grown since the four-decade-old ban on crude exports was lifted at the end of 2015. China’s tariff threat caught U.S. producers off guard and the levies could boost suppliers of West African crude at the expense of U.S. exports. (SD-Agencies) |