BEIJING (Reuters) – China is expected to issue fuel export quotas for the rest of this year in one allocation round rather than in batches, keeping the total allowances for 2018 unchanged from last year, according to two trading sources with knowledge of the matter. Keeping the export allowances at around last year’s level of 43 million tonnes will heat up competition in the massive domestic fuel market, where there is already a growing surplus, with new plants due to start up later this year. “We see modest refinery expansions in 2018, with around 160,000 barrels per day of new capacity coming online,” said Rui Hou, consultant at energy researcher Wood Mackenzie, although he added that increased demand would suck up some of the new capacity. The surplus has led to record Chinese exports of refined products like diesel and gasoline. This has contributed to a sharp decline in […]