|
 Zheng, who grew up expecting to spend a lifetime toiling on the
family farm, instead works as a technician monitoring control panels
for Chambroad Petrochemical, one of China's largest independent
refineries.
Earning 5,000 yuan ($760) per month - roughly five times what he
could have expected to make working the fields - he got married two
years ago and bought an apartment in nearby Boxing.
"At our company, employees are considered losers if they cannot save
enough money to buy a home within five year of being hired," Zheng
said.
Zheng's story offers a vivid example of the new wealth created by
China's so-called "teapots" - independent oil refineries that have
become a new force in global energy markets since Beijing allowed
them to start importing crude last year.
The teapots, who previously refined mostly low-margin fuel oil and
whatever excess crude they might be able to pick up from the big
state-owned players, have seen their profits soar.
The rise of the teapots, now able to refine imported crude in much
greater quantities into high-value products such as gasoline, is
reshaping the local economy in dilapidated rural parts of eastern
Shandong province, where most are located.
At Boxing, a new Volkswagen dealership and freshly painted condos
line a four-lane highway leading to the Chambroad refinery, where
smoke-stacks rise above swathes of farmland.
Refinery workers in their 20s have driven up vehicle sales and home
prices in this rural town of around 10,000 people.
"We are aiming to sell 400 cars this year, doubling last year's
sales," a manager at the Volkswagen dealership said. He declined to
give his name due to company policy.
"Young people from the refinery have a lot of savings but nowhere to
spend. They bought cars so they can commute between their work place
and the nearest city."
TOUGH JOB
Despite their nickname, derived from their comparatively small size
compared with refineries run by state-owned giants such as Sinopec,
China's teapots are now big enough crude buyers that global markets
are taking notice.
Major oil ports such as Qingdao, in Shandong, have struggled to cope
with the teapots' thirst, causing huge congestion with supertankers
sometimes waiting several weeks to discharge their oil.
In January, profit margins for independent refiners processing crude
reached around 600 yuan per tonne, according to data from
commodities specialist Sublime China Information Group. By contract,
gross margins for refineries processing the teapots former staple
fuel oil and crude blend stand below 70 yuan per tonne.
More than 20,000 truck drivers are employed by Shandong's teapots to
haul crude and refined products. Demand for drivers is such that
wages have surged from 3,000 yuan per month to at least 10,000 yuan.
Wang Xiaojun, 38, had struggled to make ends meet with a series of
part-time jobs and periods of unemployment before finding work
driving a tanker.
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"It's a tough job. I work almost 16 hours every day," said Wang, who eats on the
road and sleeps in the cab of his truck. "Every single moment I want to quit my
job. Then I think about how much I am paid."
REVERSAL OF FORTUNE
The current boom represents a dramatic reversal of fortune for the teapots, with
their newfound success running counter to Beijing's policy for years of trying
to squeeze them out by curbing access to bank loans and crude supplies.
By the end of 2000, more than 80 percent of Shandong-based refineries had
closed.
But in late 2014, with China's economy slowing towards its lowest rate of growth
in a quarter of a century, the Shandong government unexpectedly published plans
to support the province's 49 large teapot refiners.
The provincial government did not respond to Reuters request for comment on the
document.
The new state backing, combined with Beijing's move last July to allow
independent refiners to directly import crude, created tens of thousands of jobs
in cities hard hit by lay-offs in the coal and steel sectors.
Mom-and-pop logistics business have mushroomed in Zibo, a small city at the
epicenter of the teapot boom, while trading companies specializing in
petrochemicals and oil products have seen their office rents double to 50-60,000
yuan per 100 square meters per year.
Wang Cong has a computer science degree from a top-ranked university in Beijing,
but works as a manager at a small logistics company in Zibo. His wife, an
alumnus of the elite National Academy of Chinese Theater Arts in Beijing, is a
commodities news editor with a local data provider.
Wang complains about rising prices in Zibo's restaurants - a recent quick lunch
with clients that cost 200 yuan would have cost around 80 yuan six years ago, he
says - but thinks both job prospects and work-life balance are better here than
back in Beijing.
"Life is much less stressful than in big cities," he said.
(Reporting by Meng Meng and Chen Aizhu; Additional reporting by Haoyu Jiang and
Henning Gloystein; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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