Shanghai, April `9 - "Fifteen private oil companies in China will receive licence to import crude oil this year, other than the 5 state-owned ones. This is the first step for China to fulfill its promise of opening the oil market to WTO," said Wu Guohua, vice director of the Policy Research Office of the Ministry of Commerce on April 17.

The information was released at a meeting on the oil industry in Dalian, Liaoning Province.

The Ministry of Commerce has set a very strict standard for enterprises to qualify for operation of crude oil import, including the scale of their oil depots, and the business statues of their contracted refineries.

It is believed that the 15 private enterprises will play a vital part in the building of the obligatory strategic oil reserves.