September 17, 2025 [Reuters]- Chinese independent refineries Qicheng Petrochemical and Qirun Petrochemical have bought crude oil from Brazil and West Africa for their newly acquired plants in eastern Shandong province, four trade sources said.

The refiners, also known as teapots, acquired one bankrupt refinery each from state-run Sinochem Group that had been shut down since last year, Reuters reported last month.

The bankrupt plants – Zhenghe Group and Huaxing Petrochemical – were allocated crude import quotas of about 26 million barrels for the rest of 2025 following the sale.

Qicheng bought two million barrels of Brazilian Tupi crude for Zhenghe for November delivery at a premium of $5 over the January ICE Brent contract. The cargoes were sold by Unipec via Zhenhua Oil and CNOOC, the sources said.

Qirun bought two million barrels of Angolan Mostarda and Gabonese Mandji crude for Huaxing for November delivery, three of the sources said. The oil was sold by Totsa, the trading arm of French energy major TotalEnergies, via CNOOC, they added.

The Shandong government has asked Qicheng and Qirun to restart the two plants in September to support local industrial growth, the people said.

However, it remains unclear when the Zhenghe and Huaxing refineries will resume operations, given subdued refining margins and weak fuel demand in China, they added.

Qicheng and Qirun did not immediately respond to requests for comments.