In April, China’s independent refiners posted a jump in oil imports as the country started to ease the coronavirus lockdown activity.
Last month, China’s independent refiners imported 13.19 million mt of crude, up by 8.3% month-on-month, and the second consecutive months of build-up, according to a monthly survey. The reading was in line with market forecasts and was affected significantly by Shandong independent refineries buying more oil.
Year-on-year, April imports by the independent refiners skyrocketed by 45.1% year-on-year. In April 2019, Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) started operations while its counterpart Zhejiang Petroleum & Chemical had not started yet.
The increase in imports drove the refinery rates up by 18.4% month-on-month to 73.5%.
The top five importers, which are Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Refinery, Zhejiang Petroleum & Chemical, ChemChina, Dongming Petrochemical, and Hongrun Petrochemical, made up 52.3% if the month’s total crude imports, by 6.95 million mt.
According to a survey, a total of 27 independent refineries and nine trading firms shipped 36 grades last month, compared to 37 grades by 30 refineries and 1 trading company in March.
A trader source said that the low crude prices have attracted more buyings.
Looking ahead, market players estimated May total imports to further rebound to about 14-15 million mt. The estimates involved coverage of 38 refineries, both with import quotas and not, through ports mainly in Shandong province.
The 38 refiners have a combined total of 84.5% of the country’s total allocations of imports for independent refineries in three batches, at 129.01 million mt.
