Securing New Markets in Asia: The Value of Strategic Spot Crude Oil Sales to Teapot Refiners

Initiative Energy and Economic Vulnerability
Type Discussion paper
Date 18 December 2019

Abstract

In the race to secure customers on competitive world oil markets, many oil producers are looking to China as a promising source of increased market share. The task of securing new customers in China can be challenging, as most of China’s recent growth in oil demand has come from ‘teapot refiners’ who have been less predictable, and more like the ‘wild west,’ than China’s national oil companies. Teapot refiners tend to be more focused on short-term profits than long-term relationships.

Authors

Jennifer Considine

Visiting Researcher Dr. Considine is a KAPSARC visiting researcher and a senior research fellow at the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral… Dr. Considine is a KAPSARC visiting researcher and a senior research fellow at the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy (CEPMLP) in Dundee, Scotland. Previously, she led a number of projects involving options pricing, real options valuations of physical assets including electricity generation facilities, storage companies, and natural gas pipelines and contracts, risk management and hedging techniques, and trading strategies for a variety of commodities including natural gas, electricity and crude oil. Dr. Considine has worked with a number of international energy companies including Ecopetrol, TransCanada Pipelines, Westcoast Energy, Coastal Corporation, Duke Energy, and ANR Pipeline Company. She is currently chief editor of Energy Politics, an energy newsletter dealing with commercial strategies and strategic planning in the global energy industry. Dr. Considine is a former member of the Board of Directors for Canada Post, and founding member of a number of initiatives to promote Scottish-Canadian relations including the Canadian Friends of Scotland.

Expertise

World oil and inventories
Commodity trading and technology
Russian oil industry
Econometrics options pricing
Commercial strategies.

Publications See all Jennifer Considine’s publications

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Kang Wu

Program Director Kang is the program director for Markets and Industrial Development at KAPSARC, with many years of energy research and consulting… Kang is the program director for Markets and Industrial Development at KAPSARC, with many years of energy research and consulting experience. His ongoing research covers a variety of issues related to economic, energy (particularly oil and gas) and environmental developments in China and the rest of the Asia-Pacific region. Kang speaks at international conferences, forums, workshops and training programs, and his research has been cited by international media, including Time magazine, the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, the Asian Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune, Far Eastern Economic Review, Financial Times, Reuters, Voice of America, BBC, CNBC and others. In 2003, Kang testified before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on the impact of China’s energy sector and market developments on the rest of the world. He is the author and co-author of numerous company studies, journal articles, research papers, project reports, books, chapters and other publications.

Abdullah Aldayel

Research Associate Abdullah is a research associate in the Oil and Gas program, with a focus on oil markets and energy policies.…

Abdullah is a research associate in the Oil and Gas program, with a focus on oil markets and energy policies. He primarily works on the economic cost of shocks to world oil markets. His work has been published in several peer-reviewed journals.

Abdullah holds a B.S. degree in petroleum engineering from the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM).

Expertise