Any big jump in operations will really depend on domestic consumption and also outlets in the international market, an official close to Huizhou’s operations said.
The conservative operation rate, partly due to technical reasons to ensure safe runs at a newly commenced refinery, may expand through June 2009, said the company official.
The company, has yet to receive special export quotas for diesel and gasoline that are free from a 17% value added tax (VAT).
The policy, under which refiners import crude and export a set amount of refined products free from VAT, applies to Sinopec and PetroChina for the first half of 2009, a subsidy that helped increase China’s overseas sales of diesel and gasoline and thin swollen domestic fuel stocks.
CNOOC may also join hands with Chinaoil and Unipec, a trading vehicle of PetroChina and Sinopec, respectively, in its early days in the fuel export business, a Chinaoil official has said, after the firm joined hands with Singapore-based China Aviation Oill.
