Time to take a fresh look at oil subsidies

Sinopec, one of China's two largest oil companies, announced yesterday that it received a subsidy of 12.3 billion yuan ($1.7 billion) for its losses in the refinery business.

It is likely that the jaw-dropping subsidy will spark another round of public complaints. This is the third year that this oil giant has got such a handsome subsidy while reporting overall profits of tens of billions of yuan.

Many people doubt the legitimacy to pay such money to a company that is a beneficiary of the State monopoly in the oil industry.