Move seen as sign of government's willingness to break up monopoly

Share prices of Guanghui Energy Co jumped by the daily limit of 10 percent on Thursday to 8.98 yuan ($1.46) after the private firm was granted a crude oil import license on Wednesday, a move that echoes the government's efforts to break the monopoly in the oil market.

Xinjiang Guanghui Petroleum Co Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Guanghui Energy, was granted an import quota of 200,000 metric tons of crude oil for 2014, becoming the first private company to obtain such a license, according to a regulatory filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange late on Wednesday.