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PipeChina was born out of a government access to networks’ “surplus capacity”. Service
desire to unify the country’s midstream assets contracts were to be awarded on a non-discrim-
under a single operator, boosting third-party inatory “first come, first served” basis.
access (TPA) to both oil and gas infrastruc- But TPA failed to gain much traction during
ture. This was intended to boost access to the trail, owing to issues such as the fact that
import infrastructure, while also making it “surplus capacity” was not clearly defined and
easier for private upstream players to estab- there was no official agency to provide an inter-
lish themselves. pretation. As such, the government announced
China launched a five-year TPA trial scheme plans in March 2019 to launch an independent
in 2014, under which operators of pipelines and midstream operator, before unveiling PipeChina
associated facilities were expected to provide in December 2019.™

Zhoushan’s VLSFO sales climb 18% in 9M-20

PERFORMANCE THE Chinese port of Zhoushan reportedly The central government has encouraged
increased its sales of marine fuel by 18% year on greater production of VLSFO in order to reduce
year in the January-September period. the country’s reliance on imports, while also cre-
The port, China’s leading supplier of bun- ating another regional bunker fuel hub.
ker fuel, sold 3.26mn tonnes of bonded marine Zhoushan’s competitive pricing helped Chi-
fuel in the first nine months of the year, Reuters nese marine fuel demand recover from a corona-
reported on October 14, citing an unnamed local virus (COVID-19) driven slump in the first half
government official. The source added that the of the year, the official told the newswire.
supplies, the majority of which were very-low VLSFO meets the International Maritime
sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO), were priced in line Organisation’s (IMO) new guidelines on
with supplies in Singapore and $15-20 per tonne sulphur content, which were introduced on
below those from South Korea. January 1. The IMO rules require the global
China’s refiners have been ramping up produc- tanker fleet to use fuel with a sulphur con-
tion after the central government approved in Jan- tent of no more than 0.5% – down from the
uary a tax waiver on exports of VLSFO, opening previous cap of 3.5%.
the door for Chinese refiners to compete with rivals Beijing introduced VLSFO export quotas ear-
from Singapore and South Korea. Exports of the lier this year, granting a combined quota of 10mn
fuel climbed to a record 1.62mn tonnes in August, tonnes to state-run Sinopec, China National
according to General Administration of Customs Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), China National Off-
(GAC) data, bringing the total for the first eight shore Oil Corp. (CNOOC), Sinochem and pri-
months to 9.26mn tonnes. vately owned Zhejiang Petrochemical.™

Week 41 15•October•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P9