"Information about Petroleum Contracts" to be submitted to MOFCOM

Although MOFCOM approval is no longer required for a Sino-foreign petroleum contract ¹, the State Council has decided that the Chinese party must still "report and deliver information about the signed petroleum contract" to MOFCOM.

The relevant State Council Decision ², which was made on July 18, 2013 and became publicly available on July 26, 2013, amends the regulations ³ relating to the exploitation of onshore and offshore petroleum resources in China. The relevant amendments are set out in paragraphs (a) and (b) below.

These amendments follow the State Council's decision ⁴ in May 2013 to remove the need for MOFCOM's approval for petroleum contracts. For more information about this decision, please see our previous Client Alert ⁵ dated May 2013.