Rising Oil Prices Threaten China’s Independent Refiners

Chinese independent refiners may be about to start reducing their processing rates as international oil prices rise and supply from major exporters such as Venezuela and Iran dries up as a result of U.S. foreign policy decisions. “Teapots are unlikely to be able to afford a full shift to mainstream grades,” an Energy Aspects analyst said this week, as quoted by Bloomberg. The so-called teapots are more sensitive to adverse oil market changes due to their refining margins being slimmer than those of state-owned majors. These margins…