China has issued the first batch of crude oil import quotas for non-state companies at 68.81 million tonnes, or 1.38 million barrels per day (bpd), four refining sources said.
Twenty-nine companies received quotas, including independent refiners and trading companies, according to official document.
The quotas are closely monitored by the oil industry as robust demand from independent Chinese refiners helped push crude imports by the world’s second largest oil consumer to an all-time
high in 2016.
The Ministry of Commerce said in December it would keep the full 2017 quotas for non-state companies at 87.6 million tonnes, unchanged from 2016.
The first batch of quotas for 2017 for independent refiners was based on each company’s crude import volume between January and October last year, three of the sources said.
The ministry is expected to review import volumes at mid-year before issuing more quotas, one of the sources said. (Reuters/NAN)