Singapore — China has raised quotas for refined fuel export volumes by
5.4% year-on-year in its first batch of 2021 to seven firms, including
a private refiner, according to a state-run energy exchange's blog and one
of the recipient companies.
The country's quota for the first issue of 2021 totaled 29.5 million tonnes, compared to 27.99 million tonnes in the
first issue of the year-ago period.
Beijing normally issues three or more batches of quotas for fuel exports
during a year. For 2020, a total of nearly 59 million tones of quotas were
issued.
The recipients for the fresh quotas are CNPC, Sinopec, CNOOC, Sinochem,
China National Aviation Oil Company, defence conglomerate Norinco and
private refiner Zhejiang Petrochemical Corp (ZPC), the official blog of
state-run Shanghai Petroleum and Natural Gas Exchange showed.
Its posting cited domestic consultancy JLC, which confirmed the details to
Reuters and has often proved correct in reports of such decisions in the
past.
Separately, an executive with one of the firms confirmed the quota issue.
The commerce ministry, which issues the quotas, did not immediately respond
to a request for comment.
The general trade category accounted for 26.17 million tonnes of the quotas,
while 3.33 million tonnes fell under processing or tolling schemes.
Companies get a tax refund for general trade deals once exports are
completed, while tolling arrangements receive a tax waiver.
The quota issues did not give the breakdowns by products, which normally
cover diesel, gasoline and aviation fuel. China issues separate quotas for
low-sulphur marine fuel.
East China Zhoushan-based ZPC, which by far operates the country's
single-largest refining capacity of 600,000 barrels per day, was allotted
two million tonnes of quotas, the only private refiner allowed to export
fuel.
