Song estimated that the demand for gas oil - a fuel mainly used in transportation and industrial production - will continue to rise in the fourth quarter and into the following year.

In September, the amount of gas oil consumed increased by 4.7 percent month-on-month to 13.8 million tons, ending a three-month decline that lasted through August.

C1 Energy said the government, by the end of the month, will award import quotas allowing five refineries run by ChemChina Petrochemical Corp, a wholly owned subsidiary of China National Chemical Corp, to bring in 10 million tons of crude oil a year starting in 2013.

That will mark the first time in China that such quotas have gone to refineries that are owned by companies other than the industry giants PetroChina Co and China Petroleum and Chemical Corp, Liao said.

She said CNOOC Ltd, the predominant explorer for offshore oil in the country, will also obtain a quota allowing it to import 1 million tons of crude next year.

"Compared with total crude imports, the quantity permitted by the quota is small, but it has a great amount of significance," she said.

"This shows that China will be more open to crude imports and will gradually allow private companies and even foreign companies to share the market with companies with government affiliations."

The five ChemChina refineries are Huaxing Petrochemical Group, Changyi Petrochemical Corp, Zhenghe Group, Qingdao Anbang Petrochemical Corp and BlueStar Petrochemical Corp, according to C1 Energy.

The world's second-largest user of crude, China imported 253 million tons, or about 1.9 billion barrels, of the oil in 2011, an amount up 6 percent year-on-year, according to customs figures.

dujuan@chinadaily.com.cn 

 

China's oil imports:

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