HANGZHOU — Zhejiang Petrochemical Co Ltd (ZPC), a private oil enterprise in East China's Zhejiang province, has been granted a license for the export of refined oil products by the Ministry of Commerce.

It was the first time that a private Chinese oil company won such permission. Refined oil-products export permission had thus far only been granted to state-run enterprises.

For now, only a handful of large state-owned Chinese refiners, including Sinopec Group, CNPC, CNOOC, the Sinochem Group, and the China National Aviation Fuel Group Ltd, are allowed to export refined oil products.

ZPC has been undertaking a crude oil refinery project with a capacity of 40 million metric tons per year in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province.

The export license will broaden the market for ZPC's refined oil products, and increase the competitiveness of their low-sulfur fuel oil in the global market, according to the Zhoushan Bureau of Commerce.