Fuel rationing to cope with shortage
By Wang Ying (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-08-05 05:48

"Asia's largest oil refiner Sinopec relies on imports for much of its crude for refining, so the surging crude prices on the world market have greatly hurt the oil giant's refining business when the central government still controls the price of domestic refined oil to stabilize the market," Han said.

Furthermore, China is a large energy consumer, Han said.

That fact, combined with increased domestic demand from a rising number of private car users, has caused the shortage of refined oil, he added.