China’s four state-owned refiners, Sinopec, PetroChina, CNOOC and Sinochem, raised their average utilisation rate to 82.6% in November, rebounding from a five-month low of 80.6% in October. These companies planned to process 7.8 million bpd of crude in November against their combined nameplate capacity of 9.44 million bpd. This compared to their October processing plan of 7.67 million bpd. They are expected to keep their crude runs steady in December, industry sources said.
Sinopec ramped up its run rates to 84% in November, two percentage points higher than October. That translates to 4.376 million bpd of crude being processed by the company last month. The increase came despite planned turnarounds at three of its refineries. However, the impact of these turnarounds was offset by other Sinopec’s refineries. Meanwhile, PetroChina raised its utilisation rates by one percentage point to 77.4% last month, marking the second consecutive month-on-month increase.
China’s independent refiners also increased their run rates amid healthy refining margins. Zhejiang Petroleum & Chemical (ZPC) started the fourth CDU at its 400,000 bpd Phase 2 project in mid-November, which contributed to the increase of its run rates to around 80% in November from around 70% in October. Meanwhile, Hengli Petrochemical kept its run rates relatively stable at around 90% in November, despite maintenance at its 3.8 million tons/year hydrocracker. Hengli’s run rates are expected to reach 100% after the completion of maintenance scheduled in December.
