China's oil demand to rise as economy picks up (4)

"Compared with total crude imports, the quantity permitted by the quota is small, but it has a great amount of significance," she said.

"This shows that China will be more open to crude imports and will gradually allow private companies and even foreign companies to share the market with companies with government affiliations."

The five ChemChina refineries are Huaxing Petrochemical Group, Changyi Petrochemical Corp, Zhenghe Group, Qingdao Anbang Petrochemical Corp and BlueStar Petrochemical Corp, according to C1 Energy.

The world's second-largest user of crude, China imported 253 million tons, or about 1.9 billion barrels, of the oil in 2011, an amount up 6 percent year-on-year, according to customs figures.

dujuan@chinadaily.com.cn

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