ABSTRACT
China National Chemicals Imports and Export Corporation, the state-run corporation that handles oil imports and exports for China, began to put remarkable quantities of petroleum and petroleum products on the overseas markets, changing its main business from oil importing to oil exporting. In spite of the fact that China's petroleum exports still constitute only a small share of the world's total oil transactions, the historical change has been of great significance to China. The prevailing situation in the world oil market is characterized by a serious surplus of productive capacity. China is deepening its structural economic reform, and the process of invigorating the domestic economy and opening to the outside world will continue for a long time to come. Although China has gradually become a net petroleum-exporting country since 1983, each year it imports certain quantities of crude oil and refined products.
