China’s crude oil throughput increases by 8.2% year-on-year in May as the country’s independent refinery boosted up their production to meet demand in ongoing recovery after the easing of lockdowns. Last month the amount of crude oil processed reached 57.9 million tons or around 13.63 million barrels/day, marking an all-time second-high volume production on tons. The highest volume recorded was 58.51 million tonnes in last December. In April, the crude oil output was 13.1 million barrel/day, and last December the output was 13.78 million barrel/day. Through January-May, the throughput averaged at 12.55 million barrel/day or totalled at 261.39 million tons, 1% below average year-on-year from 2019 as in February and March, the processing was cut at a considerably large portion.
Around one-third of China’s refineries throughput are supplied from independent plants, and the rate of productions are approximately 76% in May, nearing the pre-pandemic rates, as a way to take gain of the high margins after the fell of imported crude oil prices. Processing rates in May are also limited by cause of two China’s largest petrochemical companies are undergoing their annual overhauls. The two plants of Sinopec Corp’s Tianjin Petrochemical Corp and PetroChina’s Dalian Petrochemical Corp have a combined capacity of 660,000 barrel/day.
Data also showed China’s crude oil output was up 1.3% year-on-year at 3.88 million barrel/day or totalling 16.46 million tons in May. Crude oil output for the January-May period was increased by 1.9% year-on-year to 80.9 million tons. In addition, natural gas output in May totalled in 15.9 billion cubic metres, increased by 12.7% year-on-year, and averaging in 78.8 billion cubic metres for the span of January-May. The growth in natural gas production is in line with the spotlight given by two major petrochemical producers in the country, Sinopec and PetroChina which has been prioritizing to invest in lower-carbon fuel.
