Shell wins license to trade oil products in Chinese wholesale market

• Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) says China has awarded it a license to independently trade oil products in the country's domestic wholesale oil market, allowing it to carry out purchases and sales of oil products for its customers in the Chinese market.
• "The wholesale business of refined products has long been dominated by Chinese national oil companies and is typically reserved for Chinese companies," says Kang Wu, head of S&P Global Platts Asia analytics. "The latest license to a wholly-owned foreign company is unique and set to increase the competitiveness of the wholesale market in China."
• China has been showing more willingness to work with international companies in its oil sector; Cnooc last month signed agreements with nine international oil companies for offshore exploration in the Pearl River Mouth Basin in southern China.