China's government has issued an oil products import licence to Hubei Tianfa Co., a major independent oil products wholesale and retail company, in a move to open the oil market to more domestic trading houses before opening to foreign firms by the end of this year.

"We have received the licence from the Ministry of Commerce for importing oil products," said a Tianfa official.

Under the licence, the company was so far allowed to import 30,000 metric tons of gasoil for this year, he said, adding that he expected the Ministry of Commerce to issue more of these licences in the second half of this year.

This is the first time the government has given a private company a licence to import gasoil, which Tianfa will sell at its retail outlets. Until now, the government has only allowed PetroChina Co. and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., or Sinopec Corp., to import gasoil.

China normally imports gasoil for use at utility companies such as power plants.

In September last year, the government reissued a licence to Tianfa for the wholesale distribution of oil products.

In a market overhaul in 1999, China recalled thousands of licences for the wholesale distribution of refined oil products and consolidated the business into a duopoly held by PetroChina and Sinopec.

Tianfa operates more than 100 oil retail stations in central China. It has been getting most of oil products for wholesale and retail from PetroChina.

China will open its oil retail market to foreign firms by the end of this year and its wholesale market two years later.

(Shenzhen Daily July 8, 2004)