Unipec Replaces Ship Charters After U.S. Sanctions COSCO Tanker Units

China's Unipec has made replacement bookings for four oil shipments from the Middle East Gulf after the United States imposed sanctions on the tanker subsidiaries of China's COSCO, three shipping sources said on Thursday.

The sources said Unipec, the trading arm of Asia's top oil refiner Sinopec, had switched to other tanker owners including China Merchants-owned AMCL after the designation by Washington on Wednesday of two of state-owned COSCO's subsidiaries.

Sinopec declined to comment. AMCL's Hong Kong office could not be reached for comment after office hours. An AMCL executive reached by Reuters declined to comment. 

(Reporting by Jonathan Saul and Aizhu Chen; Editing by Jan Harvey)