After more than a year's lobbying, China's Sinochem Group expects to win the go-ahead for exports of refined oil products soon, sources said, as China moves to relax curbs on fuel exports to ease a domestic glut and boost exports.
A rise in shipments of gasoline and diesel from China would be a further drag on Asian oil product margins at a time when new refining capacity in the Middle East has already sharply added to supplies in the region.
China exported nearly 17.8 million tons of oil products over January to July this year, up 8.6 percent year-on-year, customs data showed, helping to drive margins for gas oil to a more than five-year low.
Most of the main transportation fuels - gasoline, diesel and kerosene - were exported by State giants Sinopec and PetroChina.
But State-run oil and chemicals trader Sinochem Oil Co, which last year started operating its first wholly owned refinery, hopes to be the first firm outside the big three - Sinopec, PetroChina and CNOOC - to win export permits.
Sinochem is already doing pre-marketing for fuel exports from its 240,000 barrels-per-day refinery in Quanzhou, East China's Fujian Province, said three sources with direct knowledge of the matter, with one estimating it could receive annual quotas for 350,000 tons of exports.
Sinochem Oil could not be reached for comment.
China has long allowed a handful of so-called State traders to dominate trade of crude oil and the main transportation fuels, and manages them through a quota system to ensure stable supplies and limit volatility in the domestic market.
But the country began to loosen its grip this year, allowing more independents to import crude oil in an effort to boost private participation in a slowing economy. The move has come at a time of easing demand growth in the world's No.2 oil consumer.
