BRAZIL’S state-controlled energy company Petrobras plans to push more crude oil to top importer China by marketing a new medium-sweet grade that could be shipped from October, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.

Petrobras expects to start pumping pre-salt oil from new platforms in the fourth quarter that would add to output from Latin America’s biggest producer and lift its exports.

The new supply could enlarge Brazil’s market share in China as buyers there cut oil imports from the United States following China’s announcement it would impose tariffs on U.S. crude in retaliation against similar moves by Washington.

“Petrobras’ oil export curve is increasing and China is currently the company’s main market,” a Petrobras spokesman said in an e-mail.

“With (Chinese) refineries’ growing interest in buying oil directly from producers ... Petrobras will grow its presence with these refiners.”

Buzios crude has API gravity of 28.4 degrees and contains about 0.31 percent sulphur, similar in quality to Brazil’s Lula crude, one of the most popular oils in China, the company said.

The new supply could help lift Petrobras’ crude oil exports, which dropped 53.8 percent in June from a year ago to 696,000 barrels per day (2.86 million tonnes) as the company hiked its refinery output.

Petrobras’ overall production in June stood at 2.03 million bpd, down 1.5 percent from May.

China’s demand for low-sulphur crude, such as oil from Angola and Brazil, jumped over the past two years after its independent refiners, also known as teapots, were allowed to import crude.

That has moved Brazil up two notches since 2017 to fifth on China’s supplier list, with 657,000 bpd in the first quarter this year, according to data from China customs.

More than half of Brazil’s shipments to China went through ports in Shandong province, home to most of China’s independent refiners, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon data.

Petrobras also supplied the first crude cargo to Chinese chemical producer Hengli Group for the start-up of its new refinery in northeast China in the fourth quarter of this year. New Brazilian crude Mero was also delivered to Shandong in June.

Petrobras has expanded its trading team in Singapore to step up marketing efforts in China.The company has appointed a business development person from within the company and hired a crude trader from a Chinese refiner.(SD-Agencies)