Chinese refiners have suspended October fuel exports outside Hong Kong and Macau, Reuters reported on October 1, citing four people briefed on the matter. Beijing is seeking to preserve domestic supplies.
Major refiners entered China’s week-long holiday without approval for those shipments. It remained unclear whether export permissions would resume after the holiday ends on October 7, with inventories and refinery output among the factors under consideration.
PetroChina (HKEX: 0857) had canceled several gasoline and jet-fuel cargoes scheduled for October, according to the sources. Privately owned Zhejiang Petrochemical had also left product shipments unscheduled for the holiday week. Neither company immediately responded to Reuters.
The pause affects refined fuels rather than announcing a halt to China’s crude imports. It adds another supply constraint to an energy market already disrupted by the Iran conflict, following the shipping tensions previously covered by MarketSpeaker.
The immediate uncertainty is how long the restrictions last and whether other suppliers can cover missing cargoes. China’s National Development and Reform Commission had not immediately commented, leaving the reported policy without a confirmed reopening timetable.
