China Issues Massive Crude Oil Import Quotas at Start of Year
- JLC says early issue of a whole year’s allowance is a first
- Additional quota is possible given start-up of Yulong: OilChem
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China has front-loaded its oil import quotas for 2024, with an allocation to private refiners and traders that nearly matches all of the allowances granted for the whole of last year.
In a move that surprised the market, Beijing has issued quotas for 179.01 million tons — or 3.59 million barrels a day — of crude imports for the year ahead, according to industry consultancy JLC. Including a preliminary allocation in December, the total for 2024 now stands at 183.69 million tons, just a sliver below the quotas awarded for 2023.