China’s Crude Oil Refiners Smash Record on Recovery, Expansion

By Bloomberg

Apr 18, 2023

image is BloomburgMedia_RTAFUFT0AFB401_18-04-2023_06-00-06_638173728000000000.jpg

A disused oil pump and dilapidated pipes in the old city area of Yumen, Gansu province, China, on Tuesday, March 30, 2021. Yumen, "the cradle of China's oil industry," has become a totem for China's changes over the past four decades—from a time of sacrifice and ideology to one of entrepreneurs and the pursuit of wealth, from the old economy to the new, from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- China’s vast oil industry is setting records as the nation’s post-Covid Zero recovery gathers pace and capacity was added.

Refiners processed 63.29 million tons of crude in March, up 8.8% on a yearly basis, government data showed on Tuesday. That’s the highest ever for the month of March, and equals 14.97 million barrels a day, the biggest daily volume on record, according to Bloomberg calculations.

China is the world’s largest crude importer and consumption this year was widely forecast to expand to unprecedented levels after anti-virus curbs were ditched. The boom in processing may offer further support for crude futures prices, which have surged more than 13% so far in 2023 as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies reduced production.

Refiners in China have been increasing production to respond to better-than-expected gasoline and jet fuel demand, with more cars running on streets and more people traveling on planes. In addition, PetroChina’s 400,000 barrels-a-day Guangdong Petrochemical complex, which started trial runs in October, was in the process of ramping up.

However, an uptick in seasonal maintenance in April and May may mean refiners reduce processing rates in those months. A total of 62.4 million tons of capacity was under maintenance as of April 13, compared with 39.3 million tons two weeks earlier, according to OilChem.

By Bloomberg News