Dancing lions that jumped to deafening drum beats marked the opening of one of two new Chinese trading companies in Asia’s oil hub of Singapore last week, a sign of the increasing reach of China’s energy sector. While guests at China Merchants Energy Trading (CMET) watched the dance, those at Zhejiang Rongsheng lunched on catering from the Ritz-Carlton hotel as the companies timed their office openings with the industry’s biggest regional meeting, the Asia Pacific Petroleum Conference (APPEC). Zhejiang and CMET add to a growing number of Chinese companies including private refiners that have set up trading offices in Singapore this year to expand beyond China. The companies can get closer to sellers of naphtha, fuel oil and crude oil – feedstocks they need for their refining and shipping businesses, as well as the buyers of diesel, gasoline that China exports. Independent refiners, known as teapots, have asserted themselves […]