China's state-owned China National Chemical Corp., or ChemChina, has imported its third crude cargo under the 10 million mt/year crude import quota it was granted end last year, taking the total volume it has bought off the international spot market in 2013 to 500,000 mt, a source at ChemChina said Friday.

The state-owned refiner will receive a 100,000-mt (around 730,000 barrels) ESPO blend crude cargo over this weekend at Longkou port in eastern China's Shandong province, the source said.

ChemChina bought the cargo through Unipec -- the trading arm of state-owned oil major Sinopec, the source said.

Unipec had earlier issued a tender seeking up to four cargoes of ESPO blend crude loading in June. It had purchased at least two cargoes at around Dubai plus $2.80-3/barrel, trade sources said Friday.

"The [100,000-mt] cargo is expected to arrive in Shandong before June 10," the company source said, adding that they would first consider unloading the cargo at Longkou port. "If the draught at Longkou port is not enough to berth the vessel, we will send the cargo to Qingdao port," the source noted.

ChemChina's Huaxing and Zhenghe refineries -- both located at Shandong's Dongying city -- receive their crude cargoes from the Longkou port, Platts Shipping Fixtures showed.

ChemChina was granted a 10 million mt/year crude import quota at the end of 2012 by the National Development and Reform Commission, Platts has reported. But companies with import quotas still need approval from the MOC to utilize the quotas.

While some companies apply for MOC approvals every quarter or on a half-yearly basis, ChemChina applies for a permit for every single cargo it imports, sources from Chinese state trader ChinaOil and ChemChina have said earlier.

ChemChina brought in its first 130,000-mt Angolan crude cargo in mid-March, but the cargo was stuck in the bonded storage tanks for more than a month before the company finally got an import permit from the MOC, Platts reported earlier. It then imported 270,000 mt of Oman crude oil through state-owned oil major CNOOC in mid-May, Platts reported earlier.

For the Oman and ESPO blend cargoes, ChemChina obtained permits from the MOC before the arrivals, so they could be discharged at normal storage tanks.

While ChemChina is trying to use more crude as feedstock this year, the volume is still not enough to fulfill requirements at its refineries, the source said. As such, ChemChina still needs to import straight-run fuel oil for feedstock use, he said.

"The crude oil we have imported is not enough to meet the appetite of our refineries," said the company source.

ChemChina owns seven refineries with a total processing capacity of around 25 million mt/year.