The operating rate of Shandong refinery companies fell to 30%

There are signs that, as an important reform in the oil field, the right to import crude oil is growing closer to the footsteps of privately-owned refiners.

According to the “Popular Daily” news, on August 13th, Vice Minister of Yunnan Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Governor Guo Shuqing stated during the symposium that he hosted the local transformation and upgrading of the refining and chemical industry, he must actively report to the relevant state departments for assistance and help Shandong Province The company solves practical difficulties in production and operation and raw material imports.

In early July, the State Council held a seminar on the economy of some provinces and enterprises in Changsha. At the meeting, Guo Shuqing mentioned the issue of crude oil imports from Shandong refining companies.

Since then, the relevant units of the State Council have also conducted research on the refinery companies in Shandong and other places to understand the opening of crude oil import rights by refiners. This is considered as one of the signs that the crude oil import rights will soon be open.

In the eyes of the industry, the liberalization of crude oil import rights has gradually approached, but taking into account factors such as capacity utilization and market competition, the specific import quota after liberalization may be different from expectations.

Shandong to fight for 20 million tons

For the long-term cracking of the ground in Shandong refining companies, their long-term pot of "less oil" days, or due to the provincial governor's appearance to fight for improvement.

According to public statistics, as of the end of 2013, Shandong had a total of 49 local refining and chemical companies with a total processing capacity of 112.65 million tons, and achieved a main business income of 336 billion yuan, both of which accounted for more than 70% of local refining and chemical production.

According to data provided by Zhuo Chuang Information, due to factors such as shortage of crude oil, the operating rate of Shandong refinery was about 40% in the past three years, and it recently fell to 30%.

In the above meeting, Guo Shuqing also stated that at present local refining and chemical companies in Shandong Province have problems such as restricted raw materials, sluggish sales channels of refined oil, low integration level, low capacity utilization rate, and large pressure on energy consumption and environmental protection.

According to Song Zhichen, researcher of China Investment Advisor Energy Industry Co., Ltd., it is difficult to get involved in crude oil imports for a long period of time. This is very unfavorable for local refineries. It is difficult to control their own costs, the industrial chain cannot be improved, and oil shortages are often faced.

On July 3, the State Council held a seminar on economy in some provinces and enterprises in Changsha. According to one source, when reporting on the local economic situation, Guo Shuqing mentioned one issue, namely, the problem of crude oil imports from Shandong geometallurgical companies.

According to a financial network news, Guo Shuqing hopes to receive an import quota of 20 million tons in advance for the issue of import quotas for crude oil, and relevant leaders of the State Council immediately instructed relevant departments to study it.

In the latter part of July, the relevant units of the State Council also conducted research on refinery companies in Shandong and other places to learn about the opening of crude oil import rights by oil refining companies.

Almost at the same time, some media reported that the time window for issuing crude oil import rights should have been in the past two weeks. Among them, Shandong Chenshao Group, Shandong Wanda Group, Shandong Tianhong Chemical Company, Shandong Huifeng Petrochemical Group Co., Ltd., and Tangshan Bohai Petroleum Co., Ltd. Five companies will be expected to become pilot units to obtain crude oil import rights.

In this regard, some analysts pointed out that the State Council has only invited these five companies to participate in the survey, and did not explicitly say that crude oil import rights will eventually be granted to these five companies.

“We are also waiting for relevant news.” The relevant person in charge of companies such as Shandong Chenxi Group said that the opening of refined oil products will be announced immediately, and it is not clear that five companies in Shandong are confirmed.

Crack oligopoly

In fact, for a long time, the production capacity of geoprocessing companies has been trapped by policy constraints. According to China's current regulations, oil companies importing crude oil from overseas needs "import quotas."

China's crude oil import qualifications are divided into two types of state-owned and non-state-owned trades. The import quotas of state-owned enterprises are subject to automatic licenses, and the country will not limit the import volume. However, the “non-state-owned import” import qualifications are subject to quota management restrictions. At present, there are 22 companies with qualifications, of which “middle-headed” companies account for more than half.

Public statistics show that in 2013 China’s cumulative crude oil imports amounted to 282 million tons, but non-state-owned import quotas totaled only 29.1 million tons, only about 10% of total imports.

Zhu Chunkai, an analyst at Zhuo Chuang, told the Daily Economic News reporter that raw material scarcity has always been a constraint for Shandong refining companies. Shandong refinery companies mainly use imported fuel oil as raw materials due to lack of crude oil.

In fact, it has been going on for a long time to break the monopoly of crude oil import, fight for the refining companies, and related actions at the government level.

In October 2013, the National Energy Administration issued an emergency document “Qualification Criteria for the Import of Crude Oil by Refineries (Consultation Draft)”, and began to design the principles and plans for the distribution of imported crude oil, which proposed to liberalize local refining in Shandong Province. The restriction on the processing of imported crude oil by enterprises is to grant 10 million tons/year crude oil non-state-owned trade import qualifications.

According to the Shanghai Securities News, as early as the end of last year, crude oil import rights have been liberalized and preliminary plans have been devised to set the corresponding production capacity and quality standards for oil products. Several large-scale metallurgical refineries meet relevant qualifications. However, internal opinions of competent authorities are not Unite.

In April this year, the National Development and Reform Commission issued a new document requesting that crude oil import qualifications be matched with the company's overcapacity, so the list was readjusted.

Zhu Chunkai said that the liberalization of import rights is gradually approaching, but for oil refining companies will certainly clear a lot of restrictions, the amount of import quotas will not be great. In Song Zhichen's view, it is difficult to achieve the expectation of the private enterprises to liberalize, and domestic refinery companies will continue to face the embarrassing situation of lack of oil for many years.