Independent China refiners' clout growing in global oil market

Beijing

THEY long stood in the shadows of state-owned Chinese energy giants, small in size and clustered in an eastern province along the coast. Now, independent refiners are wielding growing clout in the global oil market.

Shandong Dongming Petrochemical Group, the biggest of dozens of privately owned refiners known as "teapots", illustrates how such processors may be coming into their own after for years depending on state-owned companies for oil. It began importing supply on its own this year after hiring two crude traders in Singapore, according to Shen Fan, a deputy general manager at Pacific Commerce Holdings Pte, its trading unit.

China is widening access for teapots as part of its drive to encourage private investment in its energy industry. That may boost imports into the world's second-biggest oil user, helping counter a glut that's cut benchmark prices by half in the past year. The small plants account for almost a third of the nation's processing capacity, and if Shandong Dongming is a guide, may attract…