Private firm Guanghui gets oil import license

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.