China issues 52.99 mil mt crude import quotas to 31 refiners in 2nd batch: sources

Singapore — China's Ministry of Commerce has issued 52.99 million mt (388.42 million barrels) of crude import quotas to 31 qualified independent and non-major state-owned refineries in the second batch for 2020, refining sources told S&P Global Platts.

The new allocations take the total crude quotas awarded to 44 qualified refineries to 152.61 million mt for 2020, accounting 85% of the refineries' annual quota ceiling.

The two independent refining and petrochemical complexes -- Zhejiang Petroleum & Chemical and Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Refinery -- were allocated the highest volumes.

However, ChemChina did not receive any new quotas this round and was only granted 8.52 million mt, or 57% of its annual ceiling, in the first round.

In addition to 31 qualified refiners, the other five licensed trading companies also have been allocated a total 890,000 mt of quotas.

Taking both the quotas allocated to trading companies and refiners into account, China has so far allocated 157.71 million mt of crude quotas for this year.

MOFCOM said in early November that qualified refineries and trading companies are able to apply for up to total 202 million mt (4.06 million b/d) of crude oil import quotas for 2020.

In China, refineries built and operated by state-owned companies -- Sinopec, PetroChina, CNOOC and Sinochem -- do not need quotas to import crude. All other refineries, including independents and those owned and operated by state-owned companies, such as ChemChina and Norinco, require quotas to refine imported crude.

China's 2nd batch import crude quotas for qualified refineries ('000 mt):

Source: refining sources