China has granted the last batch of crude oil import quotas for 2021 to domestic refiners. Industry sources said the latest quota allocation amounted to 14.89 million tons, lower than the market’s expectations of 19.8 million tons. The latest allocation brought the total quota to 43 refineries to 171.75 million tons, compared to 179.4 million tons allocated to 44 refineries in 2020.
The sources said 16 refiners, mostly private companies, were qualified for the quotas, which would allow them to restart imports after a quota shortage forced them to cap throughput. Among the recipients was the 16 million tons/year greenfield Shenghong Petrochemical refinery. Shenghong is expected to receive 100,000 tons of Russia’s ESPO crude in late October, allowing it to start a trial run in the second half of November.
On the other hand, 17 refiners were absent from the recipient list. Market sources said some of them were excluded due to illegal quota trading. Meanwhile, a refiner was absent from the list as it was set for dismantling. Zhejiang Petroleum & Chemical was also not on the list, with sources expecting the government to grant it the allocation separately by the end of the year.
