China tapped into its crude oil inventories in October amid a rebound in domestic refinery runs and a sharp drop in imports, analysts said. Chinese refiners processed 58.4 million tons (13.75 million bpd) of crude last month, compared to a 16-month low of 13.64 million bpd in September. Meanwhile, the total crude oil supply from both imports and domestic production was just 54.63 million tons or around 12.86 million bpd. While China does not publish its oil inventory data, it could be estimated that about 890,000 bpd of crude was drawn from stocks last month.
Chinese refineries have used more crude than what was available in five of the last seven months. However, China built huge stocks during the first quarter of 2021, meaning that the country has added about 150,000 bpd to its storage for the January-October period, analysts said. However, this recent build is well below the 1.26 million bpd added in 2020.
China imported around 10.21 million bpd of crude oil in the first ten months, a decline of 7.2% from a year earlier. China's oil imports fell to a three-year low of 8.9 million bpd last month. The decline was mostly attributed to the lack of import quotas for independent refiners and power shortages that forced refiners to cut production.
