What Crew Members Say About Mercury-Hope

In a recent development, BP has initiated the discharge of an impressive 1 million barrels of Angolan crude oil to a private refiner in China, marking the end of a two-month delay incurred due to waning demand among independent refiners. The Mercury Hope supertanker, chartered by BP and loaded with approximately 2 million barrels of Angolan crude, successfully unloaded a portion of its load in late May at Qingdao. Following this operation, the vessel has been stationed in adjacent waters. As of late Wednesday, the tanker restarted the offloading process, this time directing the remaining crude to the Shandong Qingyuan Group, an independent refiner located in Linzi, Shandong province. The Shandong Qingyuan Group, which boasts a refining capacity of 104,000 barrels per day, is a consistent client of BP. BP's partnerships with Chinese independent refiners have expanded significantly since 2015, coinciding with China’s decision to allow crude oil imports to nearly 40 local facilities.