China allows Hengli, Zhejiang to process imported crude

摘要

Singapore-China has given Hengli Petrochemical and Zhejiang Petrochemical approval for each to process up to 20 million mt/year of imported crude oil, bringing the independent refiners closer to their first crude cargoes for trial runs. Both companies received the approval for the volumes from the National Development and Reform Commission. Hengli also said it was looking to apply for some actual crude oil import quotas in 2018, approval for which would come from the Ministry of Commerce. 'We have submitted an application for crude oil import quotas of 6 million mt for 2018, and will apply for a 20 million mt quota next year,' a company source said. The NDRC sets the maximum volume limit that a qualified refiner can import in a year, while the commerce ministry issues import quotas for the actual volume the refiner can bring in. The ministry has already issued the first batch of crude import quotas for 2018, totaling 121.3 million mt. It is expected to issue the second round of quotas in June.