China Orders Halt to October Oil Exports in Bid to Preserve Domestic Reserves

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Summary · why it matters

China has announced a ban on major domestic refineries exporting refined oil products to other regions in October, with the exception of Hong Kong and Macau, amid concerns about domestic oil reserves. Chinese refineries have already suspended exports of refined oil products for October, according to four sources. Earlier, the Chinese government announced restrictions on fuel exports in March as the Iran war disrupted crude oil supplies from the Middle East, but it later eased those controls in July and is now managing exports of diesel, gasoline and jet fuel on a monthly basis. On Wednesday, state-controlled PetroChina cancelled a number of planned shipments of gasoline and jet fuel for October, while Zhejiang Petrochemical scheduled no shipments of oil products during the holiday week. The government has set the condition that exports can proceed only once domestic oil reserves return to pre-Iran war levels. For September, China exported about 1.4 million tons of diesel, 500,000 tons of gasoline and at least 2 million tons of jet fuel, including volumes under the bonded warehouse system for Hong Kong and Macau. Michal Meidan, head of China energy research at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, said this reflects that the Chinese government wants to focus on building domestic supply security, while overseas markets are only a secondary matter.

Impact on assets 2

Others▼ · 1 stocks
PetroChina Co Ltd Class A
601857
▼ NegativeRegulationrelevance

PetroChina cancelled planned October gasoline and jet fuel shipments as China's export ban forces refineries to halt refined product exports.

Others▲ · 1 stocks
⛏Heating Oil Futures
HEATOIL
▲ PositiveSupplyrelevance

China's halt of refined oil product exports tightens global distillate supply, supporting heating oil prices.

Off-coverage companies 1

Zhejiang Petrochemical Co., Ltd.Private▼ Negative
Regulationrelevance

Zhejiang Petrochemical scheduled no oil product shipments during the holiday week under China's October export ban.

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