Beijing is prioritising domestic inventories over already stretched global fuel markets, with Chinese refiners suspending exports of diesel, gasoline and jet fuel to all regions apart from Hong Kong and Macau for October, according to four people briefed on the matter.
The country had first restricted shipments in March after the Iran war disrupted Middle Eastern crude supplies, eased those curbs in July, and has since managed product flows on a monthly basis.
A week-long holiday began Thursday in China without clearance for major refiners in the world’s largest refining hub to ship products abroad. Whether approvals resume after the break ends on October 7 is uncertain, with sources tying any restart to domestic stocks and refining output. PetroChina cancelled a handful of October gasoline and jet fuel cargoes, while privately controlled Zhejiang Petrochemical Corp scheduled no product shipments during the holiday week.
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Damage to refinery infrastructure in the Persian Gulf and Russia’s diesel export ban through October had already left refined fuel in short supply. Kpler puts commercial gasoil and diesel inventories in China at about 20 million barrels below Beijing’s threshold for permitting exports, with gasoline roughly 9 million barrels short.
Top destinations for Chinese fuel in September included Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Vietnam, Bangladesh and the Philippines. Bangladesh, which sources up to a third of its refined fuel imports from China, reported no communication but said it could turn to other suppliers if needed.
