The port of Ningbo-Zhoushan, in Zhejiang province south of Hangzhou Bay
China targets Singapore bunkering
Chinese tax reform will trigger a gradual shift in the bunker fuel market away from Asia’s dominant hub
The timing of a package of Chinese tax reforms will have a greater impact on the future of the Asian bunker fuel market than the new International Maritime Organization (IMO) rules on sulphur in maritime fuel that came into effect on 1 January. China applies both consumer and value-added taxes to bunker fuels, even for bonded sales. This leads blenders to import about 90pc of the blendstocks, mostly from Singapore and Malaysia. “The tax is the big game changer,” says Dr Michal Meidan, director of the China Energy Programme at Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. Chinese refiners, she says, have been lobbying for tax relief for well over a year. The IMO has banned ships from using fuels with
Also in this section
9 January 2026
The Latin American producer’s crude prospects rely on a multi-pronged approach where even the relatively easy wins will take considerable time, effort and cost
9 January 2026
While many forecasters are reasserting the importance of oil and gas, petrostates should be under no illusion things are changing, and faster than they might think
8 January 2026
Indonesia and Malaysia are at the dawn of breathtaking digital capabilities. Their energy infrastructure must keep up with their ambitions
8 January 2026
The next five years will be critical for the North Sea, and it will be policy not geology that will decide the basin’s future
