China’s government is reportedly preparing to grant independent refinery operators wider access to world fuel markets. Sources told S&P Global Platts on December 30 that the Ministry of Commerce was expected to award petroleum product export quotas to several independent refiners next year.
According to the sources, the ministry has not said exactly when it will take this step. Chinese authorities are committed to diversifying the fuel export sector before the end of 2020, but they may not include any independent operators when they hand out the year’s first set of export quotas, they said.
“We expect the government to release the first batch of oil product export quota allocations for 2020 [later] this week. It is not clear if any new players will be in the [first batch] list,” one source told Platts.
This will be the first time the ministry has ever taken such a step. To date, China’s government has only permitted large state-owned companies such as Sinopec to sell petroleum products outside the country.