Fifteen Chinese companies will see themselves granted crude oil
import licenses before the end of the year, a Ministry of Commerce
official was quoted as saying on Wednesday by Shanghai
Securities News.
The action is part of China's moves to open up its oil market as
part of its WTO accession pledges, Wu Guohua, deputy chief of the
ministry's policy research office, was quoted as saying although he
refused to name the 15 companies concerned.
Currently, five large state-owned firms monopolize crude oil
import licenses, namely China National Petroleum Corp., China
Petroleum and Chemical Corp., China National Offshore Oil Corp.,
Sinochem Corp., and Zhuhai Zhen Rong Company.
Wu did reveal that any crude oil importers would have to abide
by strict standards including possessing total oil storage capacity
of over 200,000 cubic meters and agree to signing long-term
contracts with major oil refiners.
Analysts said that this fresh batch of licenses will improve the
speed at which China is able to build up domestic strategic oil
reserves.
On April 10, the National Development and Reform Commission, the
country's top economic planner, released the Eleventh Five-Year
Plan for Energy Development (2006-10), which issued a clarion call
for companies to develop commercial oil reserves as it tries to
balance rising prices with potential supply cuts.
(Xinhua News Agency April 18, 2007)