Four more Chinese independent teapot refineries, with a total capacity of 15.6 million mt/year, have joined others in applying to the National Development and Reform Commission to process around 14.47 million mt/year of imported crudes, the government said on its website late Tuesday. The four new applicants, together with three other refineries still waiting for the NDRC’s final nod for a total of 9 million mt/year of crude import quotas, and 11 that have been granted quotas, will bring the total applicants to 18. Once those seven teapots get approved, it will bring the total volume of crude quotas granted to teapot refineries to 72.66 million mt/year, with 49.19 million mt/year awarded to 11 teapot refineries. This will be around 22% of the country’s total imports in a year, since China has imported around 6.63 million b/d of crudes over January-November this year, according to the latest customs data. […]