2006 crude, oil products quotas set (Shenzhen Daily/Agencies) Updated: 2005-09-28 09:55 China has set its 2006 crude
and oil product import quotas for non-State-owned traders 15 percent higher than
this year, as agreed under its World Trade Organization accession terms.
The crude oil import quota is set at 14.5 million metric tons, or 291,200
barrels a day, while the quota for oil products, including gasoline, jet,
diesel, naphtha, fuel oil and low-sulfur waxy residue, is at 8.05 million tons.
This year’s quotas were set at 12.6 million tons for crude and 7 million tons
for oil products.
High-sulfur fuel oil will again form the bulk of oil product imports as
China’s fuel oil market is deregulated, while the wholesale markets for the
other products are still monopolized by State-owned China National Petroleum
Corp., or CNPC, and China Petrochemical Corp., better known as Sinopec Group.
Under its WTO entry terms, China is to raise its quotas for non-State-owned
traders by 15 percent each year from its accession in December 2001, until its
oil wholesale market is fully deregulated.
Non-State-owned traders will have to apply for their quotas from the Ministry
of Commerce Oct. 1-31, according to a notice on the ministry’s Web site.
The four State-owned traders recognized by the WTO — Chinaoil, Unipec,
Sinochem and Zhuhai Zhenrong — are no longer restricted by the quota system
since 2005.
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