China to keep crude import quotas unchanged at 243 mil mt in 2022

China's Ministry of Commerce will award up to 243 million mt of crude import quotas to the country's qualified refineries in 2022, the ministry said on its website Nov. 2.

The total volume will remain unchanged from 2021 levels. Qualified refineries should send their application to related authorities by Nov. 19, according to the ministry.

The first batch of crude quotas for 2022 will be allocated before Dec. 31, and the remaining will be allocated in the following months, depending on market conditions.

In 2021, the ministry has so far allocated a total of 171.75 million mt of crude quotas to 43 qualified refineries, about 4.3% lower than the total allocation of 179.4 million mt to 44 qualified refineries in 2020.

The ministry said it might increase quotas if oil companies need to import more crude based on their increased capacity. The ministry will also allow quota holders to make downward adjustments, in which case the remaining quotas would be returned to the ministry by Sept. 1 of the corresponding year.

The ministry will not allocate 2022 crude import quotas to those who have not imported crude over the past two years, according to the ministry statement.

In China, only refineries built and operated by state-owned companies -- Sinopec, PetroChina, CNOOC and Sinochem -- do not need quotas to import crude oil. All other refineries, including independent ones and those owned and operated by state-owned companies like ChemChina and Norinco, require quotas to crack imported crude oil.