The National Development and Reform Commission (CNDR), China’s main economic planning authority, asked China’s largest refineries to immediately and temporarily suspend exports of gasoline and diesel, Bloomberg reported, citing industry sources.
The instruction aims to ensure domestic supply in the face of growing uncertainty about the flow of crude oil from the Middle East.
In meetings with those responsible for the refineries, the CNDR would also have requested the cessation of signing new export contracts and the attempt to cancel already agreed shipments.
The guidance provides exceptions: aviation fuel, fuel shipping stored in customs warehouses and supplies destined for Hong Kong and Macau are not suspended.
The measure comes in a context of intensification of hostilities in the region — including attacks by the United States and Israel against Iran and Iranian responses — which led Tehran to declare that navigation in the Strait of Hormuz is no longer safe.
This strait is a strategic corridor for global energy trade, through which around a fifth of the oil and liquefied natural gas consumed in the world flows.
Although the majority of China’s refined production satisfies the domestic market — the country continues to be the world’s main oil importer —, the CNDR’s determination mirrors a preventive stance adopted by several Asian economies dependent on imported energy: prioritizing national supplies in times of crisis.
In recent days, Japan, Indonesia and India have also implemented measures to strengthen energy security.
Deteriorating security in the Middle East has already led some major shipping lines to change routes or suspend traffic in that region.
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