Zhejiang Oil Trading Company in China recently passed the assessment by the Ministry of Commerce in China and met the requirements for importing crude oil. The company is a non-state owned enterprise, and sources expected that the company might obtain approval to import in the near future.

The company is a joint venture with foreign capital and was established in 2018. The shareholders are Zhejiang Oil Co., Ltd on the Chinese side and Glencore Asia Holdings Pte on the foreign side. The new company will conduct wholesale business of crude oil, petroleum products, fuel oil and LPG. In addition, the company will handle imports and exports of commodities and technologies, trading, stock management of crude oil and petroleum products, and consulting.

The Ministry of Commerce announced to non-state owned companies the import quota for crude oil three times this year. According to related documents, including local refineries, there are 60 eligible companies and the total allocation was 166mil mt.