The move is being seen as China's way of opening its markets before it has to do so in 2006 as part of its WTO commitments.

An unnamed official from China's Ministry of Commerce has confirmed, "The licences were released in late September, and more wholesale licenses are expected to come out in following months. Some of the 24 companies are private companies, including the domestically listed Hubei Tianfa Group, [whilst] some others are affiliated with Sinopec and PetroChina."

The complete list of 24 companies was not divulged.