PetroChina and Sinopec have reduced gasoline exports in the third quarter to avoid a domestic supply squeeze.
The Chinese oil majors have cut exports from the July to September 2011 period due to a domestic gasoline crunch, according to industry consultancy C1 Energy. The Chinese oil giants plan to export between 830,000 and 880,000 tons of gasoline in Q3, down from 960,000 tons in Q2, making a reduction of around 9-14%.
Sinopec's July-September exports are only a quarter of its exports in April-June at around 30,000 tons. Though Sinopec stepped up production to meet the summer peak in consumption, it still faces a gasoline shortage of around 300,000 to 400,000 tons and may have to purchase extra gasoline from rival PetroChina.
PetroChina's Q3 gasoline exports may actually be slightly higher than those in Q2 at around 800,000 to 850,000 tons, but the company may need to re-route supplies to Sinopec to meet domestic quotas. According to official statistics, China's total gasoline output in the first seven months of the year rose 5.1% year-on-year to 46.1 million tons.