Chinese authorities have announced that the country’s largest oil refiners must stop exporting diesel and petrol after the Iran war severed a key artery of China’s energy supply.
Bloomberg reported today (March 5) that Chinese authorities have ordered the country’s largest refiners to suspend exports of diesel and petrol after the escalating conflict in the Persian Gulf began affecting shipments of crude oil from one of the world’s major producing regions.
Citing sources familiar with the matter, the report said the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) — China’s main economic planning agency — met executives from several refining companies and verbally instructed them to “suspend exports” of oil products temporarily, effective immediately.
The sources said refiners were asked to stop signing new export contracts and to negotiate the cancellation of deliveries that had already been agreed. However, there were exceptions for aviation fuel and bunker fuel stored in bonded warehouses, as well as for deliveries to Hong Kong and Macau.
Refineries in China that regularly receive government fuel export quotas include PetroChina, Sinopec, CNOOC, Sinochem Group and private refiner Zhejiang Petrochemical. None of the five responded to Bloomberg’s questions.
