Oil Shipments to China to be Charged for Pollution Compensation Fund

China's Ministry of Finance will impose a duty on all oil shipments entering Chinese waters beginning from July this year, said the China Daily on Tuesday, with the proceeds set to go into a new marine pollution compensation fund to be utilised during an oil spill.

On Monday, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the Ministry of Transport (MOT) issued a joint statement proposing the new regulation, which stated that any receiving company - both locally and abroad - should pay a 0.3 yuan (4 cents) per ton levy for oil shipments that pass through China's waters.

According to the MOF, the move was aimed at "protecting the country's oceanic environment", with the money collected used to compensate victims of oil spills in China.

The MOF cited the victims of the 2011 Bohai Bay oil spill as possible recipients of the fund. Last June, a series of oil spills happened at the Penglai 19-3 oilfield in the Bohai Bay, which caused undisclosed environmental and economic damages to the nearby residents.