Six Chinese teapot refiners have registered a US$5 billion (33 billion yuan) joint venture to pool funds and investments in order to compete with state-owned giants in an oversupplied domestic fuels market. The joint venture is called Shandong Refining & Chemical Group, and has six independent refiners and a fund backed by the Shandong province as shareholders, Zhang Liucheng, a vice president at China’s biggest independent refiner, Shandong Dongming Petrochemical Group, told Reuters on Tuesday. Shandong Dongming is the biggest shareholder in the new alliance with a 22.63-percent stake. The second-largest shareholder with a 22.59-percent interest is a fund managed by Shandong Marine Group, which is backed by the Shandong province, home to more than 70 percent of China’s teapots. At the beginning of September, the Shandong province approved a request by the largest independent oil refiners to set up a refining conglomerate to boost their coordination amid fierce […]