China is tightening government control over the collection of the oil consumption tax in order to eliminate the loopholes that independent refiners—known as teapots—have been exploiting to beef up their profitability. The stricter oil tax collection move is closely watched by oil analysts because it could hurt teapots’ profit margins and ultimately affect Chinese crude oil imports and oil product exports, S&P Global Platts’ Oceana Zhou wrote in an analysis on Thursday. As of March 1, China is using a new tax reporting system that tightens transaction monitoring, and it is trying to make the tax collection more effective by eliminating the role of the provincial governments in the tax collection. Independent refiners have so far enjoyed the protection of their respective local governments that have been collecting the tax revenues from the teapots, but all tax revenue has gone to the central government. Provinces where independent refiners are […]