Chinese refiners suspend October fuel exports

Chinese refiners have halted plans for oil product exports in October, according to four sources cited by Business Recorder, as Beijing moves to protect domestic supplies. The pause adds further strain to fuel markets already constrained by the Iran war. Beijing had curbed exports in March after the conflict disrupted Middle Eastern crude flows, then eased the restrictions in July.

Refiners were not given the green light to ship fuel to regions beyond Hong Kong and Macau in October during China's week-long holiday, which began on Thursday. Beijing has not clarified whether exports could resume after the break, which runs to October 7, and the answer could depend on domestic inventories and refinery output. PetroChina cancelled a handful of planned October gasoline and jet fuel shipments, while privately controlled Zhejiang Petrochemical skipped scheduling any shipments during the holiday week.

Kpler analysis cited by Zameer Yusof puts commercial gasoil and diesel stocks about 20 million barrels below Beijing's threshold, with gasoline roughly 9 million barrels short. Washington has told Germany and France to draw down emergency diesel stocks, and US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the world has lost diesel supplies from the Middle East and China. Asian diesel swap spreads for October and November reached a two-week high as traders expected little Chinese export supply.