Chinese Crude Oil Imports -- Big Story -- November 13, 2017

A couple of days ago I noted an article in which it was reported that the Chinese government had relaxed rules on crude oil imports by the small "teapot" refineries. It turns out that the smaller refiners may not have the resources necessary to be able to import their allowed allotments.

From Platts:

China has raised 2018 crude oil import quotas for independent oil companies by a sharp 63% from 2017 levels, a move that triggered a rally in the Middle East sour crude complex to a three-year high, but traders and analysts said the quotas would still fall short of Chinese independent refiners' requirements.

The country's Ministry of Commerce Wednesday said total crude oil import quotas for independent oil companies in 2018 would be 142.42 million mt (2.86 million b/d), compared with 87.6 million mt (1.76 million b/d) that the government had set for 2017, according to calculations by S&P Global Platts. But actual quotas awarded so far in 2017 stand at 103.52 million mt.