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China has released new oil export quotas for the rest of 2024. (Photo: Shutterstock)
China has released new oil export quotas for the rest of 2024, comprising 8 million metric tonnes of clean refined fuel and 1 million tonnes of marine fuel, two Chinese commodities consultancies and several trade sources said on Friday.
The latest and likely the final batch for 2024 brings the total export allowance so far this year to 54 million tonnes, including 45 million tonnes released under the first two allotments, steady from last year’s total amount at 53.99 million tonnes.
However, the new allowance volumes for this third batch were lower compared with last year’s third batch of 15 million tonnes, comprised of 12 million tonnes for light transportation fuels and 3 million tonnes for marine bunker.
China’s product export quotas are watched by the industry as they impact supply and refiners’ margins in the region.
The new batch of export quota could stimulate the country’s crude runs, as the Chinese refiners still have a sizeable amount of unutilised export quota going into Q4, compared with last year, before this latest release, said Wood Mackenzie’s managing consultant Bi Xin Xin.
However, there is still downside risk stemming from the recovery of domestic demand and overall profitability in the domestic and export markets – which has been volatile, she added.
For refined fuels such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, state-owned oil majors such as Sinopec, CNPC and CNOOC were given 6.38 million tonnes of export allowances, or around 80 per cent of the total volumes, according to one of the consultancies JLC.
The rest were awarded to Sinochem at 790,000 tonnes, private refiner Rongsheng Petrochemical Corp at 730,000 tonnes and China North Industries Group Corp (Norinco) at 100,000 tonnes.
China’s Ministry of Commerce did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
China’s exports for gasoline and diesel in the first eight months this year have fallen by 26 per cent and 31 per cent respectively versus year-ago levels, due to lower refinery output and softening export margins.
Only aviation fuel bucked the trend with exports up 33 per cent supported by a rebound in travel demand and stronger jet fuel margins in Asia.
Meanwhile, the marine fuel export quota for the third batch was below market’s expectations of 2 million to 3 million tonnes.
This could mean less domestic supply available for bunkering in China, which may lead to more barrels from Singapore, a trader said.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First Published: Sep 20 2024 | 11:49 AM IST
