SINGAPORE (Reuters) - China has issued more crude oil import quotas for mostly private refiners that will allow them to bring in a further 12.9 million tonnes for the rest of 2019, a document seen by Reuters showed on Tuesday.
The third batch of quotas was allocated to 19 companies, including private refiner Zhejiang Petroleum & Chemical Co (ZPC), which was awarded 3.5 million tonnes, the document showed.
That takes to 163.9 million tonnes the total crude import quota issued so far for 2019, according to a Reuters calculation.
China imported 369.04 million tonnes of crude oil in the first nine months of 2019, up 9.7% from the same period last year, customs data showed, boosted by the startup of new refineries as well as solid fuel demand in the country.
Privately owned Hengli Petrochemical Ltd (SS:600346) launched a 400,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) mega oil refinery in late May and ZPC aims to bring online a 200,000 bpd unit in the coming months on top its existing 200,000 bpd plant.
As well as independent oil processors, mostly based in the eastern province of Shandong, provincial government-backed Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Group was also granted a crude import quota of 900,000 tonnes.
China's Ministry of Commerce did not respond to a request for comment.
