由中国独立炼油厂组成的一个联盟公布相关计划，拟协调采购国际原油，并出口柴油等成品油。这些炼油厂正试图走出强大国有对手的阴影。

　　Independent refineries, known as teapots, account for about a fifth of China’s refining capacity and have been gaining market share since Beijing granted them crude import licences.

　　被称为茶壶的独立炼油厂占中国炼油产能大约五分之一，自北京方面授予它们原油进口许可证以来，它们已扩大市场份额。

　　But their eagerness to capitalise on the new clearance resulted in chaotic buying in the spring that led to severe port congestion and high storage charges in China’s northern province of Shandong.

　　但它们利用新获得的进口许可的急切心理在今年春季带来一波混乱的购买，在中国北方省份山东导致港口拥堵和高昂存储费用。

　　The new consortium opens the door for more co-ordinated purchases and could help the teapots diversify their crude imports and lower their sourcing costs.

　　新的联盟为更加协调的采购打开了大门，可能帮助茶壶炼油厂分散原油进口来源，降低采购成本。

　　It is led by Pacific Commerce, the Singapore-registered trading arm of Dongming Petrochemical, one of the largest of the teapots and which will represent the 16-strong group in international crude sourcing and product sales.

　　该联盟由最大的茶壶之一太平洋商业控股有限公司（Pacific Commerce，东明石化(Dongming Petrochemical)在新加坡注册的交易部门）牵头，并将由其在国际原油采购和成品油销售中代表联盟中的逾16家集团。

　　On Tuesday, Pacific Commerce signed an agreement on behalf of the group to source 8m barrels a year of crude oil through Unipec, the trading arm of state-owned Sinopec.

　　周二，太平洋商业控股代表该联盟签署了通过国有的中石化(Sinopec)旗下交易部门联合石化(Unipec)每年进口800万桶原油的协议。

　　The deal follows a similar agreement with UK oil major BP.

　　此前该联盟与英国大型石油公司BP达成一个类似的协议。

　　The structure of the consortium means that Dongming is shouldering the risk for its Shandong-based partners.

　　该联盟的结构意味着东明为其山东合作伙伴肩负风险。

　　The refineries are discussing taking shares directly in Pacific Commerce and setting up a bank-backed fund in Shandong to absorb some of the risk, a step that would strengthen the group’s plans to trade oil as a unified block.

　　这些炼油厂正在讨论直接入股太平洋商业控股，并在山东设立一只银行支持的基金，以吸收一些风险，此举将加强该联盟作为一个统一实体交易石油的计划。

　　We are all brothers.

　　我们都是兄弟。

　　We know each other.

　　我们互相认识。

　　None of us would endanger the others, said Dongming vice-president Zhang Liuchang. We can’t ruin our credit because then the banks won’t lend to us.

　　我们中没有人会危害其他人，东明石化副总裁张留成表示，我们不能破坏自己的信用，因为那样银行就不会借钱给我们。

　　The independent refiners have for years scraped by on spare domestic crude and imported fuel oil while facing official hostility.

　　这些独立炼油厂苦撑了多年，依靠国内富余原油和进口燃料油维持经营，还要面对官方的敌视。

　　Their fortunes turned when they were issued crude import licences, and were able to buy higher-quality crude due to the glut in international markets.

　　获得原油进口许可证让它们时来运转，利用国际市场的供应过剩买到更高品质的原油。

　　However, the reprieve was threatened when the National Development and Reform Commission warned in August that it could revoke crude import licences for refiners that had not paid taxes.

　　然而，国家发展和改革委员会(NDRC)在8月警告称，尚未缴纳税款的炼油厂可能被吊销原油进口许可证，使这一局面受到威胁。

　　Various loopholes and complications in the Chinese tax code have in the past allowed teapots to avoid paying taxes on oil products refined from fuel oil.

　　以往，中国税法中的各种漏洞和复杂规定让茶壶得以规避为从燃料油提炼的成品油缴税。

　　That will raise our costs but sooner or later we need to regularise ourselves, Mr Zhang said.

　　那将提高我们的成本，但我们迟早需要让自己规范化，张留成表示。

　　The teapots’ resurgence has had an impact beyond the domestic market, as they have contributed to a glut of diesel production in China that is pressuring middle distillate markets in Asia and as far away as the Middle East.

　　茶壶炼油厂复苏所产生的影响已经超越国内市场，它们加剧了中国的柴油产量过剩，给亚洲甚至中东的中质馏分油市场带来压力。

　　Their licences to export refined products expire at the end of this year, another disadvantage versus the big state-owned companies.

　　它们出口成品油的许可证将在今年底失效，这是它们相对于大型国有企业的另一个劣势。

　　To be truly a part of the international oil markets the independent refiners still need to convince global oil traders that they are creditworthy partners, especially after Baota Petrochemical, a teapot not part of the consortium, failed to get letters of credit last winter for $50m of crude purchased from traders Vitol and Mercuria.

　　要真正成为国际石油市场的一部分，这些独立炼油厂仍需要说服全球石油交易商相信，它们是守信用的合作伙伴，尤其是鉴于宝塔石化(Baota Petrochemical)——不属于这个联盟的一家茶壶炼油厂——去年冬天竟未能为其从维托尔(Vitol)和摩科瑞(Mercuria)两家交易商购买的5000万美元原油获得信用证。