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Beijing Lifts Some Fuel Export Curbs but Adds Refiner Inventory Rules
Beijing eased refined fuel export restrictions this month while imposing new compliance requirements on refiners to protect domestic stockpiles. The changes follow the collapse of an interim truce between Washington and Tehran. South China Morning Post reported the policy shift based on sources with direct knowledge.
Jul 21, 4:34 AM·1m read1 source
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Beijing lifted refined fuel export restrictions this month but introduced compliance requirements for refiners to safeguard domestic stockpiles, South China Morning Post reported. Three sources with knowledge of the matter said the latest export quotas for petrol, diesel and jet fuel went mostly to state-owned domestic refiners.
A person familiar with the matter described the dual rules now in force.
Refiners can ship fuels only under allocated quotas and must keep inventory levels above the end-February mark, the person said. Domestic consumption security remains the top priority. The curbs were first introduced in March after the outbreak of the US-Israeli war on Iran.
South China Morning Post reported that Beijing did not formally acknowledge the restrictions at the time. The interim truce between Washington and Tehran has since collapsed, prompting the more cautious approach to easing the limits. Fu Chengyu, former chairman of China National Offshore Oil Corporation and Sinopec, outlined the tightened supervision in an article published July 14 in Energy Intelligence.
Fu wrote that since the second quarter of 2026 China’s National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Commerce have tightened refined oil export supervision.
