China's teapot refiners diversify

Beijing

CUT off from lucrative fuel export markets and seeing their margins squeezed by new taxes, China's independent oil refiners are branching out into new sectors from clean energy and lumber as well as expanding their trading to overcome the challenges.

These independents - known as "teapots" since they are smaller companies than their state-owned rivals - are scrambling to survive shifting government policies at the same time as domestic oil demand growth is slowing, undermining their ability to expand by just serving their home market. In 2016, China's annual fuel demand growth was at a three-year low.