Asia/Pacific News
China's Bonded Bunker Sales Down
Sales of bonded bunker in China fell to 900,000 metric tonnes (mt) in October from about 1 million mt the previous month, an official at China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) told Bloomberg News.
Zhou Yiqing, vice manager of the company's bunker department, predicted November volume would show no "sign of improvement."
The Chinese economy has been contracting for the past seven quarters, despite some increases in exports.
Zhou said the Chinese government is working on plans to issue more licenses for bonded-bunker supply, which is currently dominated by five domestic companies.
"The authorities are still formulating the rules before granting more licenses," he said.
"The rules, including a threshold on storage capacity, barge requirements and registered capital, may be released next year."
Sinopec has said the number of companies in the market could double once the new rules are established.
Sinopec has been working with BP Plc on bunker delivery to 10 Chinese ports under a joint-delivery contract signed last year, Zhou said, and "joint supply volumes are rising steadily."
BP has said the deal allows it to expand its operations to Chinese ports, with Sinopec providing the fuel cargoes and BP managing the bunkering process.
