2017–2020 China’s Independent Refineries Operation Report

With a series of favorable policies being released by the Chinese government in 2016, China’s independent refineries were embracing supportive development opportunities. In 2016, China’s independent refineries had broken the monopoly of the Three Giants for using imported crude oil, changed the supply pattern in Chinese oil refining industry and impacted the supply pattern of the refined oil market in Southeast Asia, which all attracted people’s attention on China’s independent refineries. However, at the beginning when China’s independent refineries were first constructed, those independent refineries were facing obstacles for development, as they lacked raw materials for production, the quality of their products was poor and the market shares they took were very small. Nevertheless, for those private companies who assume sole responsibility for its profits and losses and are active in pursuing profits, only changes can help them to break through the obstructions on the way of development. From cooperating together to developing by themselves and from being shut down due to heavy losses to earning high profits, the development of the independent refineries was remarkable. In 2016, the increasing rate of the earnings at plenty of independent refineries in China was beyond 10%.

The development of China’s independent refineries not only needs the efforts from the refineries themselves but also needs the policy orientation as well as the supports from external environment. The implementation of the “three rights” (the rights to import crude oil, process imported crude oil and export refined oil products) has changed the operation mode of independent refineries. Up to the end of 2016, the import quota of China’s independent refineries totaled 77,430kt/a. This figure is still expanding. China's dependence on foreign imports of crude oil has reached a record high of more than 65%. The development of independent refineries will continue influencing the China’s refining industry. China's reform of the supply side of the oil refining industry is deepening. So, when will the market price of refined oil become market-oriented? Can the situation of monopoly in refining industry be broken? Will the import quota of the independent refineries increase or decrease in the later stage? Can the refined oil export quota be given to the independent refineries again in the future? How the supply and demand pattern of independent refineries will change at home and abroad? The 2017-2020 China’s Independent Refineries Business Report will provide you more guidance.