As refiners ramped up output amid a recovery in fuel demand, China’s crude oil imports rebounded in April from a month earlier on a daily basis. Equivalent to 9.84 million bpd, crude oil arrivals in April based on a full data table released by the General Administration of Customs were 40.43 million tonnes. That was well below 10.64 million bpd in April last year but more than March’s 9.68 million bpd.
Imports from January to April of the year was 1.7 percent higher than the year-earlier period at 167.61 million tonnes or 10.11 million bpd. Shored up by the resumption of business activity and removal of travel restrictions within the country, oil refineries have been raising crude oil processing rates.
China’s fuel demand in Q2 to rebound from Q1, nearly matching year-ago levels, analysts estimated. Average utilisation rates at independent refineries, known as ‘teapots’, have been cranked up to nearly 70 percent in late April - their level before the virus outbreak - from a low point of just 42 percent in mid-February.
Sinopec’s Shijiazhuang, Shanghai plants, and some refineries that were under overhaul in March have restarted operation. Compared to 7.65 million tonnes in April 2019 and 6.92 million tonnes in March, total natural gas imports last month reached 7.73 million tonnes. Up 1.5 percent from the same period last year, gas imports reached 32.33 million tonnes for the first four months.
