China’s independent refiners—the country’s infamous “teapots”— just got their first sip of 2026 crude import quotas. And the timing couldn’t be better for a physical market drowning in unsold sanctioned barrels. Trade sources say Beijing has handed out roughly 8 million tons so far across 21 refiners, a noticeable bump from the 6.04 million tons issued this time last year. Hengli Petrochemical pulled the biggest ladle at 2 million tons, with Rongsheng taking 750,000 tons and Shenghong and Hongrun getting…