The capital of Guangdong province is facing a monthly shortfall of about 50,000 tonnes of refined products, the China Daily quoted Xie Zhaowei, secretary of the Guangzhou Petrol Industry Association, as saying.

As the price of crude has risen around the globe along with Chinese demand to feed an economy ticking along at 9.5 percent annual growth, domestic refineries have been caught short.

Partly to blame are the country's domestic refineries, which are reluctant to ramp up in the face of higher oil prices, said Han Xuegong, a senior analyst for China National Petroleum Corp, the nation's largest oil group.

China's state-controlled oil prices loosely follow movements in the global markets but gasoline is often sold at a discount to keep consumer costs down.

"Asia's largest oil refiner Sinopec relies on imports for much of its crude for refining so the surging crude prices on the world market have greatly hurt the oil giant's refining business when the central government still controls the price of domestic refined oil to stabilize the market," Han said.

Some gas stations was refusing to sell 90-grade unleaded gasoline as station owners claimed they were losing money on it, the newspaper said.

Meanwhile, recent stormy weather in the region has delayed oil shipments.

China's large consumption of energy, a result of its fast-growing economy, and rising demand for refined products as more people ditch their bicycles in favour of a car is also an increasing strain, Han said.

The world's most populous country expects to import 130 million tonnes of crude in 2005, up from last year's record high of 122 million tonnes. - AFP