Zhejiang Petroleum granted first-ever fuel export right

The Ministry of Commerce granted Zhejiang Petroleum & Chemical Co Ltd (ZPC) a license to export refined oil products on July 7. It is the first private oil refiner in the nation to ever win such permission.

In the past, only five State-owned refiners, including Sinopec, CNPC, CNOOC, Sinochem Group and China National Aviation Fuel Co Ltd, were allowed to export refined products.

The move comes as part of the country's efforts to promote reform and opening-up in the energy sector, which is expected to bolster confidence among private and foreign-funded enterprises looking to invest in China, according to a head official at the Zhoushan municipal bureau of commerce.

The license will also further expand ZPC's sales channels, increase the competitiveness of low sulphur fuel oil in the international market, and boost the development of a full oil and gas industrial chain in the Zhejiang FTZ, he added.

Insiders have said that the company, along with five other State-owned refiners, will soon be allotted a government quota to determine the volume of their exports.

The company has a refinery in Zhoushan with a designed annual capacity of 40 million tons. Construction on its production center, which will cost around 173 billion yuan ($25.07 billion), is divided into two phases. The first phase, which accounts for half of the total planned capacity, began operating at the end of 2019, while the second phase is expected to begin operating in 2021.