CHINA’S refinery output fell 5.4 per cent last month versus a year earlier, official data showed on Friday (Oct 18), declining for a sixth consecutive month even with the start-up of a new plant as weak fuel consumption and skinny refining margins curbed processing.
Refiners processed 58.7 million tonnes of crude oil last month, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed, equivalent to 14.3 million barrels per day (bpd).
The September level rose from August’s 13.9 million bpd as some refineries returned from planned overhauls and as a new refinery in Shandong started.
However, Reuters’ calculations based on last year’s NBS figure at 63.6 million tonnes showed September output fell 7.7 per cent, which suggests the data agency has revised down the year-ago figures.
An NBS data consulting hotline staff reached by Reuters acknowledged that the agency does revise year-ago base figures from time to time, without further elaboration.
Despite year-on-year consumption growth in August following a pick-up in logistics and transportation activity, China’s diesel fuel use has declined amid a broad economic slowdown and with cheaper liquefied natural gas replacing diesel as a truck fuel.
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The start-up of China’s newest refiner, Shandong Yulong Petrochemical, in late September may lift refinery output in the coming months as the plant ramps up, opening secondary units after running one 200,000-bpd crude unit.
Smaller independent processors in refining hub Shandong last operated at 53.5 per cent of capacity in late September, down nearly 13 percentage points versus a year earlier, according to Chinese consultancy Oilchem.
Output for the first three quarters of the year was 531.3 million tonnes, or 14.2 million bpd, down 1.6 per cent versus the corresponding period last year, the NBS data showed, in its fourth consecutive decline for year-to-date volumes.
Again, Reuters’ calculations using last year’s reported data of 554.84 million tonnes showed a larger decline of 4.2 per cent.
China’s September domestic crude oil production rose 1.1 per cent on year to 17.07 million tonnes, or 4.15 million bpd, according to the NBS data.
Year-to-date output was up 2 per cent on the year at 159.87 million tonnes, or 4.26 million bpd.
Natural gas production rose 6.8 per cent in September over the same year-ago level to 19.3 billion cubic metres (bcm), and output for the year to date grew 6.6 per cent at 183 bcm, the data showed. REUTERS
