【英语财经】中国独立炼油厂参与全球石油交易 ‘Teapot’ refiners look to bypass middlemen

China’s independent refineries are becoming more assertive in global oil trading, procuring larger volumes of crude and buying it directly from the market.

The country’s so-called “teapot” refineries received some of the first import licenses last year as Beijing moved to boost investment in the energy industry, which has long been dominated by state oil companies Sinopec

and PetroChina.

The teapots — which, despite their nickname, can be substantial buyers, together representing about a third of China’s total oil refining capacity — have moved quickly to strike deals with some of the world’s largest crude exporters and are finding ways to procure oil that bypasses international trading houses.

Last month Shandong Chambroad Petrochemicals Company bought a spot cargo of crude oil directly from Saudi Aramco

— the state oil company of Opec’s de facto leader and the world’s largest exporter of crude.

Now, the company — one of 11 independent refineries permitted to import crude — will be the first teapot to trade on the Dubai Mercantile Exchange

as it looks to hedge its imports and buy physical cargoes from Oman.

This approach by Shandong Chambroad, say some industry participants, suggests a shift away from the use of middlemen, whether it is big international oil traders or China’s domestic oil industry giants.

The DME said the exchange will be approaching more independent Chinese refineries in the coming weeks and plans to hold a roundtable in the country in mid-May “to assist other local participants”.

The world’s biggest trading companies, which include Trafigura

, Glencore

and Vitol

, have aggressively sought buyers among China’s 20 independent refineries that are able to use imported crude in their plants.

“Some of the teapot refiners have only recently been granted the licenses, so they are still learning,” said David Wech at consultancy JBC Energy. “They will buy from whomever they can and they will try to buy directly from sources, but it is still early days.”

Oil analysts say just that just as China’s state-backed energy companies built their own trading divisions to reduce their reliance on western commodity houses, the teapots are following a similar path. They say it is another illustration of China’s growing influence on world oil markets.

Owain Johnson, managing director at the DME, said western trading houses still hoped China’s independent refiners would become firm customers even as some of the bigger teapots become more self-sufficient.

“It’s hard to overstate the level of interest from suppliers and traders in developing relationships with these guys,” Mr Johnson said.

The majority of China’s refineries are small, local enterprises that will be dependent on bigger players domestically and internationally for crude procurement.

中国的独立炼油厂在全球石油交易中正变得更加自信，它们加大原油采购量，并直接从市场购买。

这些所谓的“茶壶”炼油厂去年获得首批进口许可证，其背景是北京方面采取行动促进能源业投资；该行业长期由中石化(Sinopec)和中石油(PetroChina)等大型国企主导。

尽管被称为茶壶，但中国的独立炼油厂有些是相当大的买家，它们合起来占中国炼油总产能大约三分之一。这些企业迅速行动起来，与世界上一些最大的原油出口企业达成交易，并设法绕过国际贸易公司采购石油。

上月，山东京博石化公司(Shandong Chambroad Petrochemicals Company)向沙特阿拉伯国家石油公司(Saudi Aramco)直接购买一批现货原油。沙特是石油输出国组织（OPEC，中文简称“欧佩克”）事实上的领导者，全球最大原油出口国。

现在，山东京博（获准进口原油的11家独立炼油厂之一）将成为在迪拜商品交易所(Dubai Mercantile Exchange)进行交易的首家茶壶。该公司正寻求对冲自己的进口，并从阿曼购买实物原油。

一些业内人士提出，山东京博的这种做法似乎表明，中国民营炼油厂试图绕过中间商，无论是大型国际石油交易商还是中国国内的石油业巨擘。

迪拜商品交易所表示，将在未来几周接洽更多的中国独立炼油厂，并计划在5月中旬在中国举办一场圆桌讨论会，“以协助其他当地参与者”。

全球各大贸易公司，包括托克(Trafigura)、嘉能可(Glencore)和维多(Vitol)，都一直积极地在中国获准使用进口原油的20家独立炼油厂中寻找买家。

“有些茶壶炼油厂最近才获得许可证，所以他们还在学习，”JBC能源咨询公司(JBC Energy)的戴维?韦克(David Wech)表示。“他们将从他们接触到的任何卖家购买，他们会尝试直接从源头购买，但现在仍是早期。”

石油分析师们表示，就像中国政府支持的能源企业建立自己的交易部门，以降低对西方大宗商品贸易机构的依赖一样，茶壶炼油厂在走同样的道路。他们表示，这是中国在世界石油市场上影响力与日俱增的又一个例证。

迪拜商品交易所董事总经理欧文?约翰逊(Owain Johnson)表示，西方贸易公司仍希望中国的独立炼油商成为稳定客户，即便某些较大的茶壶变得更加自给自足。

“供应商和贸易商与这些企业发展关系的兴趣极大，再怎么形容也不过分，”约翰逊表示。

中国的炼油厂多数是规模较小的本地企业，它们在原油采购方面将依赖于国内外的更大企业。

译者/和风