China’s alliance of independent “teapot” oil refiners has chartered zero VLCCs this year after a year in which it fixed more than one VLCC per month following its April 2016 start-up of chartering operations.
The reason is partly because it is currently sourcing cargoes from places other than the Middle East Gulf but also because Chinese national policy has cut back on the volumes that private players can import without going through the state oil majors.
Zhang
